Fair Seas calls on Taoiseach to honour his election promise to enact MPA bill

Government intention to scale back its commitment to stand alone marine protection legislation, in favour of amending existing Marine Spatial Planning legislation, is a worrying development in the protection of Ireland’s seas.

A spokesperson for the Department of Environment has confirmed to the Business Post that the responsibility for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) was in the process of being transferred to them from the Department of Housing, and that “an exercise is being undertaken to examine how the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 could be revised as an approach to deliver the legal basis for MPAs”.

Speaking in response to the reports Dr. Donal Griffin said, “Thousands of Irish people have consistently called for the introduction of MPA legislation since 2023. While in theory it may be possible to achieve the same outcome by going through the amendment route, the reality seems to be that today’s news signals a major downgrade of government commitment to MPA legislation and the protection of Ireland’s seas. Ultimately, whether the government decides to go the amendment route or for a stand alone Bill, we will be scrutinising and assessing it against its capacity to deliver on its objective to protect and manage Irish seas into the future. Key to that has to be high quality stakeholder participation, effective well resourced management plans, and strong and ambitious targets.” 

Jack O’Donovan Trá, Marine Biologist and Communications Officer with Fair Seas said, “Ireland is already a laggard and outlier among its European colleagues in terms of its commitment to marine conservation and management, but stand alone MPA legislation would be the minimum commitment required by the Irish government to stand among the ranks of other nations showing true leadership in the management of our shared ocean. At the heart of a strong MPA Bill is the engagement and involvement of coastal communities and the fishing industry. Nobody knows better than the fishing industry that fish stocks are dwindling and catches are not what they once were. The effective conservation and management of our seas as envisaged by MPAs is a major part of the solution to these very real issues.”

The Fair Seas coalition also pointed to an election campaign promise from Taoiseach Micheál Martin, promising to introduce the MPA Bill.

Sorley McCaughey, Fair Seas Advocacy and Strategy Advisor said, “In advance of election 2024, Taoiseach Micheal Martin wrote to us to say that: ‘If Fianna Fáil is elected after the next election, we will ensure that the next Government will implement the MPA Bill as soon as possible.’ The Taoiseach needs to honour his personal commitment to this Bill, and move urgently together with all the relevant Ministerial colleagues to introduce the MPA Bill as quickly as possible.”

Read; Fair Seas Ten Key Asks of Ireland’s MPA Legislation. 

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