While I appreciate the motivation behind the amendment, section 226 of the Act refers to the local authority development on the foreshore. This amendment would effectively nullify existing permissions for local authority development and have significant consequences for the delivery of essential public infrastructure such as wastewater treatment facilities. I am certain the Senator would agree that we have to move on such infrastructure. I oppose the amendment.

I appreciate that. The Senator's point is noted.

I am speaking to amendments Nos. 22 and 24, since the Senator withdrew No. 23. I thank her for making those significant points about nature. I appreciate that. Amendment No. 22 proposes to cherry pick elements of Article 5(2) of the MSP directive. This is contrary to the directive. Article 3 of the MSP directive defines maritime spatial planning as “a process by which the relevant Member State’s authorities analyse and organise human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives”.…

Amendment No. 26 proposes that a review of the national marine planning framework be commenced within one year of enactment of this legislation. These proposed amendments contain deficiencies. These include providing for particular pillars of sustainable development and sectors to the exclusion of others, and thus upsetting the neutrality of the legislation, requiring compliance with very specific and selected provisions of directives other than the MSP directive - some of which are already covered elsewhere in the…

I again thank the Senator for her contribution. Going back to the point on marine protected areas, this Bill does not legislate for this. Marine protected areas are the subject of separate legislation, as we have discussed previously. There is no requirement to conflate the MSP directive with the marine strategy framework directive in one piece of enabling legislation. The latest MSP global international guide on maritime spatial planning, prepared by UNESCO and the EU Commission and published this year, reinforces…

There are several layers of protection there. If the Senator wants to consider it in terms of an interim measure we can give and are giving active consideration to statutory instruments, particularly around species like the basking shark, in order to include them as a listed species under the Wildlife Act. There is a possibility of using that mechanism to protect specific species across Irish waters.

I will give the response and just try to specifically address the concerns that were raised by both Senators. Again, this amendment conflates the MSP directive with the marine strategy framework directive and seeks to upend the implementation of one over another. Both will need to be provided for in the Irish Statute Book. We know that and we are acting on same. On marine protected areas, the progress to deliver the commitments contained in the programme for Government has been significant and encouraging. Followin…

I thank the Senators for the general thrust of what they are trying to achieve in the amendment. I assure them that these matters are interrelated. I will continue to reiterate that, and it is important to say that. I do not see this amendment as being loose. It is quite prescriptive in the sense that it states: “notwithstanding anything elsewhere in this Act no Maritime Area Consent or Development Consent shall be granted until that process is completed.” It will cost considerable-----

As I have outlined, the MPA legislation is moving along significantly. We hope that the legislative draft will be ready in the first half of 2022. We are moving on that with significant pace. It is important to look back at the transcript of the meeting of the joint committee that took place in November, which focused on MPAs. That engagement with the marine environmental unit gave significant reassurance to members of the committee on how these interrelate.

What needs to be highlighted here is that the State intends to create management plans for areas within the maritime area. It is not simply a case of defining a boundary and specifying what activity will take place in this zone. In its development, the management plan for the area must take into account all activities that currently use that area or could potentially use that area in the future. It must also take into account environmental aspects of the area. All data generated in this development will be collecte…

Amendment No. 38 seeks to delete "colocation" from section 22 in relation to proposed maritime usages within a DMAP. The inclusion of both "colocation" and "coexistence" here is designed to reflect the intended versatile nature of DMAPs. I am sure the Senator can appreciate that. The proposed amendment would unduly limit the scope and potential of DMAPs. Flexibility is required in this regard. Once again, I remind Members that what we are doing here is creating a framework within which plans can be made. It is impo…

Amendment No. 41 seeks to limit the Minister's ability to issue a direction in respect of a DMAP. It would specifically limit the Minister’s ability to not require an amendment to a draft DMAP to those matters referred to in the preceding subsection that are not in the MSP directive. In other words, where there is an inconsistency with the MSP directive, the Minister must require an amendment to the draft DMAP if it is issuing a direction on that basis. The Minister has a responsibility to comply with the directive…

A number of points have been raised by the Senators. I will try to get through the ones primarily relating to the governance element of MARA first. I will then speak specifically to the elements raised by the Senators, in respect of local authority members in particular. I served 16 years on a local authority, was elected on four occasions and feel proud of the work we achieved in my time there. Local government has consistently proven itself, especially over the time of Covid. It stepped up and was counted. The Go…

I propose to share my time with Deputy Duffy.

I again thank Sinn Féin, the other co-sponsors of the Bill, the Simon Communities of Ireland and Deputy Ó Broin for bringing forward this Bill. It is great to have cross-party unity on this matter. I will quickly raise a number of issues that Members have brought up in their contributions. With regard to private emergency accommodation, new standards are currently being rolled out in each facility. This will be completed early in the new year. The standards are based on the national quality standards framework. I m…

I had my Flavahan's porridge this morning which was oatily delicious. I have it every morning. I am certainly familiar with Bunmahon, a beautiful part of the country. The primary responsibility for the monitoring, management, protection and improvement of water quality is assigned to local authorities under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts and related legislation. Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services, planning, delivery and operation at nati…

The proposals the Deputy has made are reasonable and should be given consideration. I refer to the point he raised about the underspend. Obviously, there are capacity issues and issues still to be resolved with Irish Water's structure and its ongoing engagement with local authorities on service level agreements and the work ongoing with the Workplace Relations Commission. That work is progressing well. It will result in Irish Water becoming a fully-fledged public service utility that delivers on the infrastructure …

I was trying to familiarise myself with Noonan Road earlier, although I am fairly familiar with Cork city. Our Department launched the energy efficiency retrofitting programme in 2013 with the aim of funding the retrofit of social homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Since the programme commenced in 2013, more than 73,500 units of social housing stock have been retrofitted with a total Exchequer spend of €161 million under the scheme. This Government revised the energy efficiency programme in 2021 a…

With regard to the Noonan Road project, there is no further action my Department can take in respect of the submission for funding until Cork City Council provides the clarifications we are seeking. Our Department supports local authorities in improving their social housing stock through a range of programmes, including energy retrofitting, regeneration and refurbishment works on vacant properties, in order to return properties to productive use as quickly as possible. It is to be led by the local authority. As wel…

This is in addition to the normal large-scale regeneration and rebuild programme of works which continues to be funded by my Department in the Knocknaheeney area of Cork city. With regard to the point Deputy Gould raised about the €21 million spent between 2013 and 2020, there were different standards of works. The funding required for 7,000 units to meet the 2013 standards is significantly different from that required to meet the current B2 standards and requirements. We are seeking clarification from Cork City Co…