Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 318:

318.In page 181, after line 29 to insert the following:

"CHAPTER 7

Amendment of Maritime Area Planning Act 2021

Definition

268. In this Chapter, "Act of 2021" means the .".

These amendments amend provisions of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021. Amendment No. 319 amends section 75 of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to disapply the requirement in section 75 to hold a maritime area consent, MAC, before applying for development consent. This applies where a prospective applicant has entered into pre-application consultations with An Bord Pleanála before 1 October 2022. The provision is intended to ensure that projects that entered the planning system under section 37B of the Act prior to the commencement of Part XXI of the Planning and Development Act, which introduced the requirement for a MAC, can continue in that consent process notwithstanding the introduction of a new marine planning regime. It is a partner provision to the amendment at section 243. However, an application for a MAC must be made within two years of the granting of planning consent.

Similarly, amendment No. 321 inserts a new section 76A into the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 disapplying the provisions of sections 75 and 76 where a lease is made or a licence is granted before 1 October 2022, ensuring there is no requirement for a MAC in such circumstances.

Amendments Nos. 318 and 320 are technical amendments providing a definition and a required cross-reference.

Amendment No. 323 is intended to address concerns that arose in the context of the MACs issued under the Maritime Area Planning Act to a first batch of offshore renewable energy projects, the phase 1 projects, in December 2022. The Act provides, at section 144(1)(b), that if the holder of a MAC becomes subject to a winding-up order, or if a receiver or examiner is appointed, the MAC automatically terminates.

In the drafting of these phase 1 MACs, it became apparent that the wording of section 144, as it stands, has the unintended consequence of preventing the holder of a MAC from identifying a suitable replacement holder from taking control of the project in the event that a termination occurs as per section 144 of the Act. The automatic termination provision is problematic for investors and financial institutions in the context of providing project finance and may pose a significant obstacle to financing and developing an offshore renewable energy project.

The issue that the amendment seeks to address is that, currently, if an offshore wind farm gets into financial difficulty and becomes insolvent, the right to develop the project, the relevant authorisation, automatically terminates without those lending money to facilitate the development of the project having an opportunity to remedy or rescue the project. The amendment provides for a short suspension of the automatic termination provisions, which would potentially facilitate the identification of a suitable replacement entity, thus allowing an offshore renewable energy project to continue. Under the proposed approach, MARA would have the right to suspend the automatic termination provisions and require a defaulting offshore wind farm developer to submit a proposal for assignment to a new holder under the existing assignment provisions of the Maritime Area Planning Act, namely those in section 85.

It is envisaged that, on foot of these amendments, the Department and MARA will produce guidance on the factors that the authority will or will not consider in reviewing and approving or refusing an assignment request under new sections 144A(4), 144A(5) or 144A(6).

Amendment No. 322 is a minor technical amendment.