Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party supports this Bill and we welcome its intent and the various matters it addresses. As many Government Members have said, this Bill is 90 years in the making, particularly with regard to the pressing need to stop delaying the development of large-scale renewable energy capacity such as wind farms. It is also about protecting our biodiversity.

Green Party Members have a motion tomorrow night relating to the Antarctic. I never thought I would end up having to read so much about the Antarctic but what is coming through very clearly in the research I have been doing is the ability of marine protected areas to absorb carbon and how important it is to be able to protect biodiversity within oceans in not just meeting our renewable energy targets but our natural carbon sequestration targets.

In the past year and a half or so we have been in this Chamber on many occasions discussing how land could be best used and protected. Our maritime area is significantly larger and it is very welcome we are now giving proper consideration to the importance of our maritime area as a means for transport, industry and, most important, the critical area of meeting climate action targets and decarbonising our economy. On that I pay tribute to the members of the Oireachtas joint committee and particularly the officials in the Department and interested parties, who have produced such a comprehensive technical Bill such as this. It is important.

The Bill provides a groundbreaking legislative framework for a new streamlined development consent process for activities in the maritime area, including offshore renewable projects. This is a welcome development when there is ever-increasing interest in the development of our sea areas. It is certainly necessary when our sea area is seven times the size of our land mass. This Bill is vital to develop a clear strategy for marine areas long into the future. We are, of course, an island and we have one of the largest seabed territories in Europe.

We could also not continue to put off the required legislative and planning changes to provide for the development of renewable energy sources, including offshore wind. For us to have the ability to upscale our renewable energy production, particularly in the area of wind, we must have properly equipped planning authorities and a clear framework. This will allow us to scale up while protecting our coastal communities and marine habitats. We can only achieve our climate action targets and protect the future of everyone coming after us by taking drastic action. Central to this is a dramatic increase in our reliance on renewable energies and we have the potential to become one of the world's leaders in this area, particularly in wind energy. The potential for this is enormous and we can all agree that it is likely to be integral to the future of both our economy and our life in the country itself.

A fit-for-purpose regulatory and legal framework is the only way we can achieve these ambitious goals while ensuring the protection of our maritime biodiversity and the future of our coastal communities, both in terms of jobs and community benefit.It is vital that this is done correctly. Every time land-related legislation comes before this House, we see how important the Planning and Development Act 2000 is and how integral it remains. The same will be true of this legislation. Much like the 2000 Act for land, this Bill will determine how we treat maritime planning long after most of us will have left this building. Like any area of planning, public participation is key. One of the areas that has come up in pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill has been public participation and how the public is engaged with the Bill and with planning our maritime areas, particularly around marine protected areas. We must ensure that areas due to be designated as MPAs are protected in the interim period between the passing of each Bill. We must strike a balance between the development and protection of biodiversity and of communities while also acknowledging the need to be able to use our seabed. That is the same whether on land or at sea. We support the Bill and appreciate the work done by the Department on very complicated legislation. I pay tribute to everybody who has succeeded in getting this comprehensive Bill this far. We want to engage progressively to ensure that we get the best legislation for our coastal communities and for the future of our country.