Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Amendments Nos. 1 to 9, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Amendments Nos. 1 to 9 are technical amendments that relate to the Title and citation. The Long Title is changed to reflect the inclusion of the transfer of maritime area planning functions from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, certain arrangements relating to the making of the marine planning policy statement and DMAPs under that Act. Changes are made to the Short Title, collective citation and construction to account for these amendments.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I do not know how we have gone from this Bill that talks about the remit of Gas Networks Ireland to one that is now looking to transfer the functions relating to the Maritime Area Planning Act from the Minister for housing to the Minister for the Environment at the very last Stage. It seems extraordinary the Government is tacking on such a significant change without any discussion with the committee or any notification. It has just been added on like it is a small technical issue, as the Minister of State says, related to this. It seems extraordinary the Government is doing this; this is not the way we should be doing business. This is quite a significant change. I assume it is probably one that is warranted. I can understand the need or the wish to move it over to the Department of the environment, but it seems bizarre it is happening as an amendment to a gas Bill when it has nothing whatsoever to do with that and there is to be no discussion about it. There will be no discussion about what resources will be required, when it will happen or whether a regulatory impact assessment has been done on what is required to do this. This is not any way to do business, to be honest.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to make the same point. Deputy Whitmore says she does not know how we have ended up here with a rhetorical piece, but if anything this is par for the course. We are bolting on a piece that is obviously an afterthought. There was a decision made that we need to reconfigure and shift responsibility from one Department to the other. There is merit in that, but it is safe to say we in Opposition have often found ourselves in the position where the Government brings in rushed legislation, which it is trying to drive through very quickly, and it does not want pre-legislative scrutiny of it while making Seanad amendments that are very significant. We have had, in this Dáil term, the experience of legislation coming forward as emergency legislation drafted in a particular way because the Government says we need to do it this way because if we do it any other way it will cause a problem for us in the future. The exact opposite has come to fruition, where we have had to come back with second and third redrafts of legislation and subsequent primary legislation because the initial piece was not well enough considered, well enough thought-through or well enough crafted. That is accepting the point that during this Dáil term we have found ourselves in difficult positions responding to crises here and crises there, but this is about a matter of good practice.

In this instance, it is also quite fundamental to what I would have thought is one of the Government's top priorities, namely, the infrastructure, architecture and apparatus to deliver on offshore wind and to do it in the right and sustainable way. If that is a major priority which I hope is shared across Government and across these Houses, then we should do it in a very different way. It is very frustrating that we find ourselves in this position. It is frustrating that we are doing this piece but not the marine protected areas legislation and we are also still waiting on those DMAPs. It is frustrating on this side of the House to constantly be put in this position. The Minister of State must acknowledge it is a bad way to do business.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputies for their comments. The decision to transfer these functions was taken by the Government at a meeting on 20 December 2023 and this is the earliest opportunity to enact that decision. It was introduced in the Seanad in previous weeks and debated there. It is a transfer of functions from one Department to another, the same as the rest of this legislation, which is also a transfer of functions from one body to another. It is designating that it will be the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications which will be responsible for marine area planning. As Deputies know, the development of our wind farms is absolutely critical so we can address climate change as quickly as possible and it is important we get all the legal parts in place. As Deputy O'Rourke says, we still have to legislate for marine protected areas and for DMAPs and we are working on that. That is much more substantial legislation that will require a full debate. This is really a simple transfer of functions from one Minister to another.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Tá leasuithe Uimh. 10 go 18 go huile le plé le chéile. Amendments Nos. 10 to 18, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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These amendments create a new Chapter 1 to the new Part 4 within the Gas (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. These provide for the transfer of Maritime Area Planning Act functions from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. They preserve work completed to date on the south coast DMAP. The Attorney General determined that this transfer could not be completed through secondary legislation, as would normally be the case, because the transfer of the role of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications as regards the approval of DMAPs while the Minister for the environment is in the process of preparing a DMAP for the south-east coast could create a legal risk to that DMAP.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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It is really important that we get this process of development of DMAPs right. The committee met with the Department. There is concern across the political spectrum that there is not enough capacity within the Department to do the DMAP work at the pace and scale required and that we could potentially fail to realise the opportunity that is there or to give a clear indication that Ireland is ambitious, particularly in the area of floating offshore wind. I appreciate the technical piece as regards ensuring this stuff does not hit a brick wall but we do need to move at pace and scale on the development of those DMAPs. We met with the Department. I believe a further discussion is needed. Additional resources may be required. There is a strong case for the State to get ahead of the game here. If additional resources are required, they should be made available.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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That is a very reasonable point. I am glad the committee met with the Department to discuss this. The Government is aware it is critical there are sufficient staffing resources to provide for this new function, the designation of specific DMAPs, and that An Bord Pleanála has sufficient staff to carry out its function. It needs a whole set of new staff who have the qualifications and knowledge required to carry out marine area planning. I will speak to my Department again to discuss resourcing but we are aware of the issue. I am glad the committee spoke to the Department.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Amendments Nos. 19 to 23, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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These amendments create a new Chapter 2 of the new Part 4 within the Gas (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. These directly amend the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to remedy issues related to the making of the south coast offshore renewable energy designated maritime area plan, DMAP, in the absence of a statutory marine planning policy statement and provide a mechanism allowing the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, in his role as competent authority, to revise the DMAP on foot of the output of public consultation, appropriate assessment and strategic environmental assessment.

Chapter 2 to Part 4 deals with the amendments to the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to provide for certain arrangements relating to the making of the marine planning policy statement and designated maritime area plans. Amendment No. 19 inserts a new section 31 into the Bill, amending section 6 of the 2021 Act, which deals with the marine planning policy statement. Section 6(4) is amended to change the time after the commencement of section 6 of the 2021 Act within which the marine planning policy statement should be commenced. Sections 6(8) and 6(9) are amended to correct a minor error by substituting the term "marine planning" for "maritime planning".

Amendment No. 20, inserting a new section 32 into this Bill, adds a new section 6A to the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to provide that any reference in that Act or in the Planning and Development Act 2000 to a requirement to be consistent with, not to cause any significant inconsistency with, to ascertain whether there is any inconsistency with or to have regard to the marine planning policy statement is only applicable where a marine planning policy statement has been made and that its absence prior to the commencement of section 6 of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 or afterwards does not, in relation to these Acts, preclude a public body from performing any function or effect the validity of any Act, document or function nor does it affect the preparation, progression or finalisation of any document, procedure, application or review of an application.

Amendment No. 21 inserts a new section 33 into the Bill. It is a consequential amendment to section 10(3) of the 2021 Act which refers to regulation- and order-making powers.

Amendment No. 22 inserts a new section 34 into the Bill and amends section 21 of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to specify that the designation of a competent authority is completed by order.

Amendment No. 23 inserts a new section 35 into this Bill and amends section 29(4) of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to allow the Minister, as competent authority, to carry out the revision of a draft DMAP following compliance with sections 22 and 23 of the 2021 Act to take into account any relevant considerations arising from the public consultation, appropriate assessment and strategic environmental assessment carried out, as required by those sections, in respect of the draft, if necessary.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Agreement to the Seanad amendments is reported to the House. A message will be sent to Seanad Éireann acquainting it accordingly.