To underpin the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF) (Ireland’s Marine Spatial Plan), a marine consenting and licensing regime was established under the Maritime Area Planning Act (MAP) 2021. In 2020, the General Scheme of the Bill was submitted to the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for the purpose of pre-legislative scrutiny. SWAN members Coastwatch and the Irish Wildlife Trust provided evidence to the Joint Committee.
The MAP Act established a regime for development consents by way of a single consent principle. The new regime intends to streamline marine consents by introducing a single system for the entire maritime area – replacing foreshore leases and licenses, and including a single environmental assessment.
The MAP Act includes provisions for: establishing the legal basis for marine spatial planning, placing Marine Planning Policy Statements on a statutory footing, establishing regional planning in the form of Designated Marine Area Plans (DMAPs) and placing marine plans on a statutory footing. The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) was established in July 2023, as part of the MAP Act. MARA is responsible for assessing applications for Maritime Area Consents (MACs) which will be required before developers of offshore wind and other projects in the maritime area can make a planning application, as well as granting licences for certain other maritime activities.
SWAN and our members highlighted numerous concerns with the Act during its development and scrutiny, such as, issues around the expansion of offshore renewables in advance of MPAs, limited public participation under various provisions and access to justice on provisions surrounding the MACs. Unfortunately, the Bill was passed with some issues left to be addressed (such as the time-lag between MPAs and offshore renewables and access to justice).
To address the disparity in timeframes between the expansion of offshore renewables and the designation of MPAs, it is vital that the Department of Environment, Climate and Communities undertakes robust sensitivity mapping. Sensitivity mapping has so far been carried out for the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea. While SWAN considers such evidence-based ecological mapping to be a vital step in MPA designation, we were disappointed that the criteria for consideration of features excludes any species that is included in the EU Habitats or Birds Directives. The ecological analysis cannot be considered thorough when it ignores the most vulnerable species, including all cetaceans that are found in Irish waters and most species of breeding seabirds. We were also concerned that DMAPs were also prioritised over nature. Read our full response here.
Future sensitivity analyses must be developed in a collaborative and holistic manner and ensure that areas which may be required in the future MPA network are not negatively impacted by offshore renewable energy developments.