Dr. Mark Mellett:

It is a privilege to be here today. I thank the committee for the invitation. I am joined by Ms Laura Brien, chief executive officer of MARA and by Mr. Rory O’Leary, principal officer in MARA.

Ireland’s capacity to tackle the existential threat of climate change is inextricably linked to the sea. For over a century, this State has been largely sea blind to the extraordinary opportunity that our ocean jurisdiction presents. The establishment of MARA probably represents the most strategic marine-related decision made in the history of the State. Under the auspice of the Maritime Area Planning Act, it will enforce a governance framework with authority to harness Ireland's ocean wealth while ensuring good environmental status. I am privileged, with my 11 colleagues on the board, to have been appointed by the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, and I confirm my commitment to this important role as chair. It might be helpful for the committee if I first set out the role of MARA, then my background and experience that makes me suitable for the role of chair, and finally I would like to spend some time setting out my ambition and vision for this agency.

MARA is an independent agency, established on 17 July 2023 by the Maritime Area Planning Act, under the aegis of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It is responsible for the sustainable management of Ireland’s diverse maritime area. The role of the board of MARA is to set the strategic direction of the organisation, ensuring appropriate processes and procedures while performing its functions efficiently and effectively. Those functions include granting maritime area consents, MACs; marine licensing for specified scheduled activities; compliance and enforcement of MACs, licences and offshore development consents; administration of the extant foreshore consent portfolio; and promoting co-operation between maritime regulators.

If I may turn to my own experience and motivation for this role, I have spent most of my life at sea. I have amassed experience and competency levels in diverse, mainly marine related settings, from days as a youth working on my father's trawler, growing and exploring in the marine, to my final appointment as Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Ireland’s most senior naval officer, and the Government’s principal military adviser. Over the decades, I have built a close affinity with Departments, Government agencies, and local authorities. I have built strong links with coastal communities and environmental NGOs. I have worked hard with industry, marine developers, the supply chain and ports. I have invested significant time of my own in higher education development, as well as higher education institutions and research programmes, delivering significant marine related infrastructure.

In the context of my role as chairperson, I bring key competencies such as unique insights and experience from a career in the marine and public sector environments; visionary leadership with a proven track record in inspiring and motivating teams to deliver change; integrity and commitment to protecting the institutions of governance, in areas such as budgets, procurement, legal obligations, risk management and environmental and social governance. As a leader and chair, I am responsible for the effectiveness of MARA, displaying high standards of integrity and probity while setting the expectations regarding culture, values, and behaviour and tone for the State body. As chief of defence, I have led in many strategic and challenging environments where complex and often conflicting agendas prevailed. I have always endeavoured to institutionalise values based on courage, respect, integrity, loyalty and selflessness. I have led on core issues, notably diversity and inclusion and gender equality and empowerment of women, striving to inculcate a culture by design rather than one by default. I have experienced the subtle and sometimes not so subtle pushback when leading change. For most of my professional career, I have led in maritime security, upholding sovereignty and sovereign rights and the norms and principles associated with ecosystem-based governance.

For 25 years, in parallel with my professional career as a naval officer, I have specialised in marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based ocean governance, on which my PhD is based. I have a deep professional, practical and academic understanding of the Government, enterprise and civil society considerations of marine governance, recognising that, as the market does not always tell the ecological truth, the importance of ensuring good environmental status and sustainable development can only be assured where externalities are internalised. This requires that norms and principles such as sustainability, ecosystem-based approach, good science and simple rules are institutionalised in the governance framework, supported by an appropriate compliance regime.

I have a strong record of action in private and public sector transformation. Besides my leadership in maritime affairs, I was Ireland's senior Government representative in Afghanistan at a pivotal time. I led the Irish Naval Service deployments to the south Atlantic and into a Northern Irish port. I have strong insight into the opportunities enabled by the three strands of the Good Friday Agreement. I served as associate head of the National Maritime College of Ireland, during which I was co-founder of the Irish maritime and energy resource cluster, pioneering the development of renewable energy in Ireland. I also led the Irish Naval Service and my experience as Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and the Government's principal military adviser, as well as my experience in the Defence Forces during the pandemic, have enhanced my capacity for the role of chairman of MARA. I also serve as chair of the board of Sage Advocacy and as a board member and council member of the Irish Management Institute and I am an adjunct professor with the school of business and law in UCC. I run my own company, Green Compass.

In the role of chair, my responsibility will be for the future, working with the board and executive team to deliver effectively on MARA's mandate. Its inauguration is a decisive step in upholding Ireland's sovereignty at sea. Sovereign rights that are not upheld are more imaginary than real. MARA will be a key player in the governance, co-ordination and protection of our oceans, providing the necessary reassurance and building the trust with all its key stakeholders, namely, Government, the citizen, industry, fishers, environmental NGOs, offshore renewable energy developers, supply chain, ports, local communities and more. As an overarching priority, MARA must have the vision to develop into the best offshore consenting agency in the world, with a global reputation for efficiency, probity and foresight.

One of our first priorities is for the board and the executive to prepare and adopt MARA's strategic plan for the period from 2024 to 2027, establishing trust with all stakeholders. The preparation of our first strategy is a great opportunity to identify our shared vision for MARA implementing world class marine planning. Working collaboratively with all its partners, MARA will support the pillars of Ireland’s marine planning system by bringing its expertise, knowledge and skills to enhance forward planning in the maritime area; developing a well-functioning transparent consenting system, consistent with the principles of proper marine planning; and implementing a rigorous, but proportionate, compliance and monitoring programme supporting sustainability. MARA will build expertise in its people, its processes and its technology, ensuring that through good management and transparent decision-making, our marine resources are optimised.

MARA will be a key enabler in respect of Ireland’s ambitions for the offshore renewable energy sector, facilitating streamlined consenting, providing certainty to industry and developers, and delivering a pathway to investment. MARA, at the centre of the new regulatory regime, will also support delivery of other projects of strategic importance, including cabling, telecoms projects, ports development, drainage projects, sewerage schemes, and so on, facilitating the State to harness significant benefits from realising a low-carbon economy, ensuring energy security and presenting new opportunities for economic growth.

MARA has a pivotal role working with key stakeholders, in particular, the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, local authorities, and An Bord Pleanála, together with a range of other Departments and State agencies.

Before I conclude, let me turn briefly to the twin challenge and opportunity of our time, namely, offshore renewable energy to address the climate crisis. Ireland is a key emerging market in offshore renewable energy. The scale of our resource is huge. Our sea area has the potential to be more than ten times that of our land mass. With the richest accessible energy resource on the planet, harnessing this renewable energy will make a massive contribution towards achieving regional renewable energy self-sufficiency, putting us on a direct path to net zero carbon emissions while at the same time future-proofing our economy and quality of life.

Ireland has the potential to produce hundreds of gigawatts of renewable energy, initially wind energy but later wave and tidal energy.

The State has moved to a plan-led approach for our offshore renewable energy ambitions. This will help ensure delivery in several overlapping phases in a planned, strategic, economical and sustainable way, which will also guide investment within this sector. This is a challenging time internationally for the market, so we need to be sure-footed, with the ambitious vision for the future balanced with a pragmatic eye on enabling the next steps for phases 1 and 2 and beyond towards a future framework. Working with its partners across government, industry, and civil society while building the required confidence, MARA will be a critical agency in delivering this ambition.

I thank the members for their attention. Together with the chief executive officer of MARA, I will try to respond to any questions they may have.