Maritime Area Planning Bill

The MAP Bill is the State’s leading response to the much needed reform of marine governance. The Bill provides the legal underpinning to an entirely new marine planning system, which will balance harnessing our huge offshore wind potential with protecting our rich and unique marine environment. The Bill is a key enabler of Ireland’s decarbonisation goals and as such, Government is committed to prioritising the passage of a balanced and Aarhus-compliant MAP Bill through the Oireachtas. The Bill will provide for a completely new regime for the entire maritime Area underpinned by the NMPF. Foreshore Consents will be replaced by a more focused and streamlined Maritime Area Consent regime. The planning permission system will be extended into the entire maritime area with development subject to a single comprehensive environmental assessment. Compliance and enforcement activities are supported through robust provisions.

The text of the Bill and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum are both available to view on the Oireachtas website.

The Marine Planning and Development Management (MPDM) Bill has evolved from the Maritime Area and Foreshore Amendment Bill. On foot of legal advice received from the Attorney General a more comprehensive and holistic approach is being taken to the management of development and activities in the marine space. A final General Scheme of the Bill was approved by Government in December 2019.

The development of the Bill is being led by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, under the auspices of the Marine Legislation Steering Group (MLSG) and in collaboration with a range of other departments and agencies. The Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications is leading the development of provisions specific to Offshore Renewable Energy.

The MPDM Bill seeks to establish in law a completely new regime for the maritime area which will replace existing State and development consent regimes and streamline arrangements on the basis of a single consent principle. The new regime will replace existing State and development consent regimes and streamline arrangements on the basis of a single consent principle i.e. one state consent (Maritime Area Consent) to enable occupation of the Maritime Area and one development consent (planning permission), with a single environmental assessment.

The new single consent principle is designed to remove unnecessary duplication and will also play a critical role in the harnessing of the potential of our offshore renewable energy resources and the transition towards a sustainable, secure and competitive energy system and in meeting our climate change goals. The approach outlined in the MPDM Bill is radically different to both the regime under current foreshore legislation and earlier proposals under a draft Maritime Area and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill.

The MPDM Bill incorporates a forward planning model, with decisions to be taken in a manner that secures the objectives of the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF) which provides the spatial and policy context for decisions about the maritime area.

The updated scheme comprises of 136 heads in 7 parts.

• Part 1: Preliminary and General
• Part 2: Definitions and Interpretation
• Part 3: Forward Planning
• Part 4: Maritime Area Consent
• Part 5: Development Management
• Part 6: Enforcement
• Part 7: Amendments to other Legislation

An updated FAQ document has been published and provides an overview of the different parts.

The updated FAQ document outlines the further policy development and issues arising from the detailed drafting process that has led to significant changes made to the State consent regime proposed in the Scheme. These changes, summarised below, will result in a flexible, streamlined, efficient and legally robust consenting regime based on concise, straightforward legal text.

The main structural changes are:

• combining the Planning Interest and Maritime Area Consent procedures into a single process concluded prior to the submission of the development consent application. This change has removed the need to duplicate relevant procedures and legal text. MACs will be granted conditional on securing development consent
• the Maritime Area Consent provisions have been drafted to enable the flexibility necessary to manage different maritime usages without the need for the additional specific legal text as envisaged in the Scheme. The general MAC provisions will provide the necessary administrative flexibility to manage the range of maritime usages proportionally based on a common core of considerations
• certain matters of detail, such as assessment criteria and types of MAC conditions, are intended to be set out in schedules. This results in more coherent, legible legal text and facilitates future proofing by enabling easy amendment in response to emergent needs
• this structure will also facilitate future integration of other maritime usages, not currently within scope of the new consenting regime, should it be determined appropriate to do so. Further consideration of such matters will be undertaken in the context of the review of Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth
• following a review of marine enforcement, new provisions are being developed to establish an Office of Marine Development Enforcement. This office will undertake enforcement and compliance functions in respect of planning decisions for offshore development and Maritime Area Consents
• certain elements of the regime expressed in the general scheme were determined to be more appropriate to set out in secondary legislation, statutory guidelines or MAC conditions. This is required to ensure sufficient flexibility to appropriately manage all maritime usages and further futureproof the legislative underpinning of the regime by facilitating amendment

The spatial and policy context will be set by the National Marine Planning framework which includes elements such as the Marine Planning Policy Statement, the Marine Spatial Plan, development management guidelines and a common spatial data platform which will provide up to date information and spatial representations of applications and granted consents. Further information on the NMPF.

In order to obtain authorisation for a proposed maritime usage a prospective developer will be required to apply to the relevant Minister for a Maritime area consent (MAC). If such an application is successful, the prospective developer will be granted a MAC, conditional on securing planning permission from a coastal planning authority or An Bord Pleanála. Requirements in respect of environmental impact assessment (EIA), and in respect of appropriate assessment (AA) under the Habitats Directive will be fulfilled in the processing of the application for planning permission. If a proposal does not require planning permission, the EIA and AA assessments/screening will be undertaken by a coastal planning authority or An Bord Pleanála.

Ireland’s ambitions for the offshore renewable energy (ORE) sector are contingent on delivering an appropriate licensing and regulatory regime. For the future ORE regime, the MPDM provides the requisite flexibility for Ireland to move, in a phased manner from the current, decentralised model, to a more plan-led/centralised regime over the course of this decade. The MPDM Bill will set out enabling provisions allowing this transition and will facilitate a regime that will work both in the short term and in the more medium to long term.

Under the MPDM Bill, Maritime Area Consents (MACs) for ORE development will be granted by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. Strategic Marine Zones will be identified for ORE development and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications may designate an entity to plan and develop the offshore transmission system for the purpose of facilitating offshore renewable energy development by third parties.

Under the MPDM Bill, the Minister is empowered to hold consenting rounds and use a competitive process to determine which person may be granted a MAC. It is also intended that the Minister will establish a competitive process for the award of financial support under Section 39 (2)(b) of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 to offshore renewable projects. Details specific to ORE such as assessment criteria and types of MAC conditions, will be set out in schedules to the Bill. Please contact ORE@dccae.gov.ie for further information in relation to the proposed ORE regime.

Further detail relating to the development of Ireland’s ORE sector

In parallel with development work on the National Marine Planning Framework, such as the statutory guidelines provided for in Part 2 of the Scheme it is intended to continue development work of other required elements including:

• develop new provisions to establish an Office of Marine Development Enforcement
• finalise the legal text of the Bill
• enactment of Bill following legislative process through the Oireachtas
• develop necessary regulations
• identify administrative enabling measures (such as agreements between state entities in how they engage with the system)
• develop Maritime Area Consent documents
• produce Operational procedures
• publish guidance material for applicants

• Further information on the Marine Planning and Development Management Bill
• Marine Planning and Development Management Bill - General Scheme
• National Marine Planning Framework