Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 13, line 9, after "2013," to insert "to amend the Continental Shelf Act 1968,".

These amendments focus on a legal anomaly that the Office of the Attorney General has requested be addressed in respect of the Continental Shelf Act 1968. The issue arises as a consequence of past transfer of function orders and Department title orders. The issue was identified in the context of the drafting of provisions for the Maritime Area and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill in regard to the introduction of a licensing regime for offshore renewable energy and offshore natural gas storage activities. The Minerals Development Bill 2015, which amends section 4 of the Continental Shelf Act, represents the first opportunity to address this issue. It will also allow my Department to continue to progress proposals for offshore renewable energy and offshore gas storage.

The Continental Shelf Act asserts the State's right to the sea bed and sub-soil outside of our territorial waters, that is, our exclusive economic zone, EEZ, and designated extended continental shelf for the purpose of exploring such sea bed and sub-soil and exploiting its natural resources. Section 5 of the Act is the key element in the consent process for the placing of structures in the sea bed in the EEZ and the continental shelf. Sections 5, 7 and 12 of the Act currently reference two Ministers. Subsection (5) of the Act currently requires that the two Ministers each grant their consent for the construction of structures or the removal of objects from the sea bed. Section 7 of the Act authorises one Minister, with the consent of the other Minister, to make regulations prohibiting or regulating the discharge of oil, sewage and other harmful substances. Section 12 relates to the inquiry powers under Act which can be exercised by either Minister.

Over the years the functions of the two Ministers in respect of these three sections have come to vest with one Minister, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. However, the sections continue to reference two Ministers. To address this issue, the proposed amendments combine the references to the two Ministers into one Minister, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The amendments also propose to introduce a new subsection (2)(a) into section 5 of the Act requiring that the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment consult with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport with respect to the safety of an allocation before granting a consent under the section. These amendments will allow my officials, in liaison with the Attorney General's office, to proceed with setting legislative provisions to regulate offshore renewable energy projects and gas storage projects beyond the foreshore by way of the issue of consents under the 1968 Act.

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