Ireland has a chance to get it right on protecting our seas

Ireland has a once-in-a-generation chance to legally protect nature in our seas and along our coasts, and we need to do it properly, writes Jack O’Donovan Trá

By 2030, Ireland has pledged to protect 30% of our marine waters. With less than 10% of Ireland’s seas currently designated as a MPA, we are currently nowhere near that target and have no adequate management plans in place for any of these areas.

Fair Seas Ireland’s long-promised network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) is inching forward at a painfully slow pace. MPAs are areas of our seas and coasts designed to legally protect nature in our seas from activities that damage them. 

Most recently, minister of state Timmy Dooley, the responsible minister, suggested that it will be the middle of 2026 before the Heads of the Bill are brought before the Government. This is just the first step in drafting the necessary legislation to designate and manage marine protected areas in Irish waters.