To ask the Minister for Infrastructure whether the Bateman Principle is part of any policy decision making or legislative development in her Department.

The Bateman Formula as you will be aware has been in place from 1967. In 2015, a Coastal Forum was established and co-chaired by the then Minister for Regional Development and the Minister of the Environment to discuss coastal issues and to seek to adopt a more strategic approach to coastal change management.

I am committed to continuing with a joint approach between my Department, DAERA, the coastal councils and the National Trust. A comprehensive Work Programme has been developed by the Coastal Forum Working Group and has been agreed by myself and Minister Poots. We also recently requested that officials organise a Coastal Policy workshop to initiate policy development that will eventually replace the Bateman approach, which is essentially a coastal protection policy and is unsustainable in the long term.