Ms Laura Brien:

I thank the members of the committee for the invitation to be here today. I am joined by Mr. Eoin Leahy, director of policy and external affairs at MARA.

First, we commend the Government on its increased maritime focus and on establishing this committee to focus on fisheries and maritime affairs, reflecting the importance of the maritime resource to Ireland. Ireland’s maritime area encompasses a jurisdiction of around 900,000 sq. km and holds great potential as a food source and also as a source of offshore renewable energy. We have high ambitions for the diverse needs of all users of the maritime space. MARA is a key component of the Government's objective to have robust, transparent and effective maritime regulatory frameworks in place to support a sustainable society, economic development and a well-protected environment. The Maritime Area Planning Act established MARA and we are now underpinned by resourcing and supported by an overarching policy framework to establish a transparent, robust and fit-for-purpose system for the governance of Ireland’s far-reaching and diverse maritime area.

As it is our first appearance before this committee, I will provide some background information on MARA. It was established as an independent regulatory agency under the aegis of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment in July 2023, as part of the implementation of the Maritime Area Planning Act. MARA's functions as set out in the Act are manifold.

They include assessing maritime area consent, MAC, applications for the occupational and specified use of particular regions of the maritime area, which are required by developers in general before development permission can be granted. We are also responsible for granting maritime usage licences, MULs, for specific activities. We are responsible for compliance and enforcement of MACs, licences and offshore development consents. We are also responsible for administering the existing foreshore consent portfolio. We carry out investigations and, if necessary, prosecutions of unauthorised activity, and we have a role in fostering and promoting co-operation between regulators in the maritime area.

Since establishment, we have been actively working to implement all of these functions. We launched our first statement of strategy in 2024, setting out a clear vision for MARA through the next three years. We have four key strategic priorities around facilitating coherent and transparent decision-making as well as providing regulatory certainty for development in the maritime area. Since it was established, MARA has been accepting applications for maritime area consents and maritime usage licences, including those for critical marine infrastructure that support all aspects of development within the maritime area. This includes port development, ORE developments such as offshore wind projects and other areas of maritime development, including telecommunication cables and electricity transmission.

During this initial start-up period, significant time was required to build staffing capacity, which is ongoing. The recruitment process at MARA continues to be targeted as we gain experience and identify areas that require resourcing. In addition to the foundational work of operationalising MARA’s legislative regulatory remit required for the development of processes and procedures, we have been making decisions and establishing appropriate standards that will be set for future applications. We have received more applications to MARA across the various areas than we have been able to process in a speedy way. For this reason, we have ranked our applications according to four specific prioritisation criteria, namely, national and European priorities; policy and regulatory objectives; assessment status; and application age. This prioritisation process is available on MARA's website and we review it monthly. In addition to processing applications that have come to us, we have also been actively engaging with Departments, industry and environmental NGOs to ensure MARA understands the broader policy environment in which it operates and to establish best practices.

Finally, with specific reference to ORE, noting the national priority to deliver ORE within the climate action plan, we have been focused on ensuring that applications for both MACs and MULs related to this sector have been prioritised. To date, MARA has received 18 applications related to ORE and 13 have been determined. I think it is now 14 as we got one more out last week. This includes a recent application from Eirgrid to support survey work required to connect the next DMAP area to the south-east coast. There has also been a large amount of work related to supporting changes to the phase 1 MACs to support developers that are looking to get their projects through the planning process, and also for further site investigation surveys.