Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
460. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures that are in place to ensure that sites of high maritime biodiversity potential are protected from overdevelopment and impact under the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63085/21]
View answerThe Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 was been recently passed by the Oireachtas and was signed into law on 23 December 2021.
This legislation puts in place a comprehensive and coherent planning system for Ireland's entire maritime area. It sets out four key pillars on which our maritime planning system is to be based, namely: forward planning; the establishment of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, or MARA; development consent; and enforcement.
Forward planning happens through the National Marine Planning Framework and comprehensive sub-national planning. Ireland's National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF) was launched on 1 July 2021 and is Ireland’s first comprehensive marine spatial planning framework. The NMPF brings together all marine-based human activities for the first time, outlining the Government’s vision, objectives and marine planning policies for each marine activity.
The establishment of MARA will mean that we will have a new regulatory agency to consider applications for Maritime Area Consent (MAC); licence scheduled maritime usages; ensure compliance and enforcement of MACs, licences and offshore development consents; assume responsibility for the management and enforcement of the existing foreshore portfolio of leases and licences; and provide a nexus for inter-agency cooperation and collaboration.
The legislation provides for consent to development proposals by the Board and local authorities. The Board will examine the merits of projects and will balance their impacts against the relevant environmental objectives. Any project that may give rise to likely significant effects on the environment will need to be accompanied by an appropriate environmental and/or ecological report.
Comprehensive enforcement provisions are included to copper-fasten these new provisions.
The NMPF will be a key decision-making tool for regulatory authorities and policy makers into the future in a number of ways, including decisions on individual consent applications which will have to have regard to the provisions of the plan in the same way that terrestrial plans form part of the decision-making tool kit in the on-land planning process.
The legislation provides for spatial designations for specified areas and uses called Designated Maritime Area Plans, or DMAPs. DMAPs are prepared by a designated competent authority, underpinned by a mandatory Public Participation Statement and subject to Ministerial oversight and Oireachtas approval. Specific DMAPs may include allowed or restricted usages and mitigating or beneficial measures. A DMAP can be used for environmental purposes in order to safeguard certain areas of environmental concern - for example, to promote the safeguarding of fragile habitats.
It should be noted, however, that this new legislation is just one piece in a suite of maritime legislation, coming after the Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2021 and before forthcoming legislation on Marine Protected Areas. Work has commenced on development of a General Scheme of a Bill to allow for designation of Marine Protected Areas and is this Bill is expected to come before the Oireachtas in 2022. This will in due course further underpin this new marine planning system while continuing to protect the State's most important asset, our maritime area.
