Mr. Conor McCabe:

I do not share the concern of the MRIA or Wind Energy Ireland in terms of resourcing for both those agencies. Proposals from An Bord Pleanála have been accepted and approved around the creation of a new marine unit within its organisational structure. We remain in ongoing discussions with An Bord Pleanála to ensure that new unit is appropriately staffed. We have to remain agile in that space because many of these are new skills for An Bord Pleanála and it needs access to those as well. We will work closely with An Bord Pleanála on this in the short, medium and long term.

We are on course to have the new agency, MARA, established in the first quarter of next year. An establishment unit has been created within the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government, the sole purpose of which is to get that agency up and running. Part of that will be to identify a proper workforce plan very shortly. I am confident that the right resources will be in the agency ahead of applications being accepted. There are statutory limits on those applications in terms of how long they take to process. These have been set out in the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021. The agency will have to react to that but I do not have a concern. I am quite confident we will be ahead of that situation.