Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 April 2022
207. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the establishment of the seafood offshore renewable energy working group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21544/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs I have previously outlined to the House, following the outlining of a variety of concerns from both sectors that were first brought to my attention during the development of the National Marine Planning Framework, I instructed my Department officials to establish a Seafood/ORE working group to assist the managed introduction of the offshore renewables industry into the maritime area.
Bearing in mind those concerns, which principally related to diverse levels and standards of communications between the fisheries and ORE industries, the initial stated aim of the seafood/offshore renewable energy working group will be to agree a communications protocol between these two strategically important Maritime sectors. With regard to the Seafood-ORE group inception timelines, I wish to acknowledge to the House that the commencement of this group has been delayed due to a number of factors, including Covid-related restrictions, the prioritisation of the finalisation process of the National Marine Planning Framework, and the successful progression of the Maritime Area Planning Act through the Houses of the Oireachtas, among other issues.
During the last months of 2020, and at regular intervals throughout this year, constructive discussions and consultations on the draft Terms of Reference have been held between my Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and other relevant public sector bodies. One such example of these engagements was the participation of officials from all three Departments in a Seafood sector information session, which was held online on July 22nd 2021, in order to inform representatives of the Seafood sector of the intentions of the three Departments and outline the proposed objectives of the group. This information session was attended by the majority of the Irish Seafood sector organisations and was generally positively received by attendees.
More recently, there have also been Departmental engagements with colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), and in February, my Department received sanction from DPER approving remuneration costs for the position of chairperson of the seafood/ORE group. As a result of this approval, I proceeded with publicly advertising the position of Seafood/ORE group chairperson on 8th March of this year.
The position was advertised for over a two week period, and I am happy to inform the House that it attracted strong interest from a broad range of suitably qualified candidates. My Department is currently carrying out a shortlisting process, after which interviews will take place with the selected candidates in the coming weeks. I will then move to appoint the chairperson at the completion of the interview stage, with the aim of commencing the inception meeting of the seafood/ORE working group at the earliest available opportunity. I would request that the House note that the independent chair will require a couple of weeks to review or amend the Terms of Reference as he or she sees fit, but I am confident that the inception meeting of this group will be held in Q2.
