Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

The administration of the foreshore under the Foreshore Acts generally involves two distinct components. First, the licensing of the activity or development on the foreshore is a regulatory role akin to the role of a planning department. Second, the vast majority of the foreshore is State-owned and managed on behalf of the Minister for Finance. Therefore, property management is a key role under the Foreshore Acts. This role of property manager on behalf of the State can in very rare circumstances give rise to competing applications for the same area of State foreshore. The Foreshore Acts have always provided for this situation. Sections 1 and 2 of the Foreshore Act 1933 stipulate that all decisions must be made solely in the public interest. For this reason the 2009 Act made specific provision for co-ordination between Departments before any decisions on consents are made. Both Departments are deeply committed to the establishment of an efficient and effective structure designed to ensure that information on applications is managed in a co-ordinated fashion.

The cumulative effect of developments, one on another in the coastal zone has been a major challenge for national governments throughout Europe leading the European Commission to issue recommendations in this regard.

In all countries this integration of the foreshore and offshore development process has proven quite difficult. The Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Act 2009 amended the Foreshore Acts 1933 to 2009 to the effect that foreshore responsibilities were split between the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and what was the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, now the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. It provided for a complex division of responsibilities for foreshore licensing between the relevant Ministers based on the nature of the application. As a result, a significant element of the foreshore licensing function was transferred to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, while others were retained in my Department. It is accepted that the wording of the Act is difficult for business to clearly understand and follow. That outcome is not good for people who wish to do business in Ireland and develop our green and other energy sectors.

The core functions transferred to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in 2009 included all energy-related developments including oil, gas, wind, wave and tidal energy on the foreshore; aggregate and mineral extraction developments on the foreshore; foreshore projects in respect of port companies and Harbours Acts other than development in a fishery harbour centre, including expansion or relocation of such port, harbour or development intended for commercial trade; all other foreshore projects other than those related to aquaculture, designated fishery centres and sea fisheries. The transfer was effected to provide proper and effective co-ordination and consistency with a land-based planning process. Provision was made in the 2009 Act for both Ministers to consult in respect of all foreshore applications received.

This consultative approach has worked reasonably well and took effect on 15 January 2010. In excess of 60 foreshore consents have been granted by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government since the transfer of foreshore functions in 2010 and a further 96 cases have been progressed through the formal foreshore application process in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Certain sections of the Foreshore Act 1933 concern the overall management of the coastal zone rather than the licensing of developments on the foreshore. For example, section 6 of the Foreshore Act provides the means to prohibit the removal of beach material and section 11 of the Act provides for the removal of dilapidated structures on beaches. In order to provide for the coherent management of the coastal zone under one administration, these and other coastal management functions were transferred in full to the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

As an island nation, the status of the sea fishing and aquaculture industry is hugely important from both an economic and social perspective. In view of this, the future of aquaculture and sea-fishing related projects needs to be secured, given the often isolated locations of the coastal communities which these industries support. The grant of a foreshore licence for an aquaculture project is currently an outcome of detailed consideration of the aquaculture licence application. In certain circumstances an environmental impact statement must accompany the aquaculture licence application. I assure the House that the licensing of aquaculture sites, including foreshore licensing for such sites, remains with my Department. This is particularly important given my Department's role in food production. I have an ambitious approach to expanding the aquaculture industry in Ireland.

I have decided to introduce this short item of legislation for various reasons. These include the increasing number of applications being made year on year for foreshore consents to each Department; the need to facilitate a streamlined and clearly defined decision making process to ensure the ongoing and sustainable development of foreshore for the benefit of the State and future generations; the ongoing challenge for Government to examine existing procedures and practices with a view to eliminating red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy; the provision, where possible, of clearer and more easily understandable legislation, for those who have to use it; and developing a faster consent system, which we all want to see, in order to maximise the employment potential of the foreshore hopefully in a sustainable and green manner. This also includes allowing the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to develop a streamlined process that will include linking the planning process to the foreshore process. At some stage in the not too distant future, I want people who are applying for development on the foreshore and who must also apply for planning permission, to be able to make one application. It is important that any perceived obstacles to achieving the above are removed and to achieve these objectives I am introducing this legislation before the summer recess to ensure that a clearer legislative framework is in place as soon as possible. This new Bill will bring greater clarity to the management of foreshore matters which is very much in line with the thrust of the programme for Government. Hopefully, it will help stimulate the sector and the economy and provide much needed employment in many rural areas of the country.

I will now deal in greater detail with the sections of the Bill. Section 1 provides for the transfer of all foreshore functions under the Foreshore Acts 1933 to 2009 from the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. The exceptions are functions relating to designated fishery harbour centres, functions in respect of activities which are wholly or primarily for the use, development or support of aquaculture, and functions in respect of activities which are wholly or primarily for the use, development or support of sea-fishing, including the processing and sale of sea-fish and manufacture of products derived from sea-fish, which remain with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Section 2 provides for the amendment of the 1933 Foreshore Act by substituting a new section 1B in place of the existing section 1B, which was inserted by the 2009 Act. The new section defines the functions to be carried out by the relevant Ministers. It improves on the last Act.

Section 3 provides for the preservation of certain continuing contracts and the adaptation of certain references to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in certain documents concerning the transfer of foreshore functions to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. Section 4 provides for the saving and amendment of certain statutory instruments made by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on functions to be taken over by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. Section 5 provides for the transfer of certain property and liabilities connected with the functions being transferred from the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Section 6 deals with the effect of the transfer of foreshore functions of certain acts performed and documents which relate to the matters so transferred. Section 7 provides for the substitution or addition of the name of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to any pending legal proceedings to enable those proceedings to continue. Section 8 provides for the completion by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in regard to functions transferred, of matters commenced by or under the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Section 9 provides that any foreshore function exercised in whole or in part by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government since 15 January 2010, including any consultation and other requirements under the Foreshore Acts 1933 to 2009, is deemed to have been exercised as if that Minister was the appropriate Minister for the purposes of the Acts. Additionally, anything commenced but not completed may be carried on or completed by that Minister after the enactment of the Bill. Section 10 provides for the Short Title of the Bill when enacted and a collective citation for the Acts as amended.

This is short but important amending legislation that will copperfasten the transfer of specific foreshore functions from my Department to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, where the resources and personnel exist to do a good job. I am introducing it now for the approval of the House in order to bring certainty and the utmost clarity to the administrative foreshore functions of the two Departments and to facilitate the ongoing work of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in integrating the foreshore consent process for major infrastructure projects with the strategic consent process operated by An Bord Pleanála, as well as the wider planning consent process in the case of non-strategic projects.

I have referred to merging planning and foreshore processes to simplify the application process for developments involving foreshore development. A further reason is to assist in the further development of a strategic focus on aquaculture licensing by my Department in the months ahead. I attach great importance to this as we try to move some of the larger scale aquaculture projects that may emerge in Ireland further offshore. I also wish to complete this now in advance of the very busy autumn schedule for my Department and the Oireachtas.