Mr. John Shaw:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for inviting the Marine Co-ordination Group, MCG, to meet it this evening. As mentioned by the Chairman, I am accompanied by Dr. Paul Connolly, the recently appointed chief executive office of the Marine Institute and colleagues from the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Housing, Planning and Local Government and Communications, Climate Action and Environment, who represent some of the Departments who are on the MCG, which was established in 2009. Dr. Connolly will also make some opening remarks.

The MCG is chaired by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. However, given its cross-departmental nature, the Department of the Taoiseach has acted as convenor. In addition to the relevant Departments, the Attorney General’s Office and the Marine Institute also participate on the group. The secretariat is provided by the MCG bureau in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. On the group’s initiative there is also a marine affairs attaché based in Ireland’s permanent representation in Brussels. The attaché attends marine policy meetings and liaises with other EU member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament to influence policy on marine matters and to keep Departments informed of EU developments. The marine attaché also partakes in MCG meetings.

The MCG provides a forum and focus for discussion and co-ordination of matters requiring interdepartmental action using a whole of Government approach. It has led to some notable achievements in relation to collaboration, research and innovation in the marine area, including through Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth - An Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland, which was approved by Government and launched by the Taoiseach and the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in July 2012. My colleague, Dr. Connolly, will take the committee through some of the achievements since the launch in his opening statement.

Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth sets out the Government’s vision, high-level goals and key enabling actions to put in place the appropriate policy, governance and business climate to enable Ireland’s marine potential to be realised. It sets out ambitious targets for growing Ireland's marine economy, including as mentioned by the Chairman, to increase the turnover from our ocean economy to exceed €6.4 billion by 2020 and to double the value of our ocean wealth to 2.4% of GDP by 2030. The plan lays out a series of actions to be progressed by the relevant Departments and state agencies to help achieve these targets.

Since 2012, much of the work of the MCG at national level has been concerned with implementation of Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth by the relevant Departments and agencies. Since 2014, the group has published a review of each year of progress, action by action, in respect of the implementation of the plan. In addition, the group, through the Marine Institute, organises the Our Ocean Wealth Conference and the annual progress report which is published at the conference. The conference brings together representatives from a wide range of relevant bodies, both public and private sector, to discuss marine related matters. In tandem with the conference, the MCG has, since 2015, and again through the Marine Institute, organised SeaFest, Ireland’s national annual maritime festival to involve the public more in marine matters and to showcase the extensive work that is being carried out in the sector.

The sixth annual review of progress of the plan was published in June 2019. It provides an overview of the main activities across a range of actions undertaken by Departments and bodies in relation to the marine in 2018. It also captures major deliverables for 2019. Over the past seven years the plan has led to improved cross-Government communication and engagement, facilitating the delivery of economic, environmental and societal policies and plans in the marine area. Key enabling architecture is also being put in place to further imbed this process, including, the national marine planning policy statement, the national marine planning framework, the Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2019 and the Marine Planning Development Management Bill 2019.

This months, the Government approved the publication of the marine planning policy statement, MPPS, which outlines a vision for the future development of the marine system, setting out overarching policies, principles and high-level priorities. The Government also approved the draft national marine planning framework, the forward planning system to manage Ireland’s vast marine resource described in the policy statement. Following an ongoing consultation period to the end of the year, preparation of the final framework will begin in early 2020. It is intended that the final framework will be published in mid-2020 and it will provide strategic guidance for decision-makers across the marine space. It is an important step for Ireland in realising the vision set out by Government in Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth. The group also continues its cross-departmental work with a view to ensuring individual Departments and their associated agencies continue a coherent approach to policies and strategies that come within their remit in relation to the marine area.

I will hand over to Dr. Connolly of the Marine Institute, who will set out in greater detail the progress made to date in the implementation of Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth.