Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Amendments Nos. 178 to 185, inclusive, are amendments to the Planning and Development Act 2000. Regarding amendments Nos. 178 and 179, following commencement of Part 8 of and Schedule 12 to the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 in October 2022, a potential technical requirement has arisen for an additional planning permission for projects in the maritime area that already have the previously required consents in place, both in Ireland and, in the case of certain cables, in other jurisdictions. These amendments address that issue.

Part 21 of the Planning and Development Act sets out certain types of developments in the maritime area that require planning permission. It does not contain any specific exemptions for developments that may already have other consents, particularly in the outer maritime area beyond the foreshore. Consequently, notwithstanding that foreshore consents have been obtained, in addition to an overarching project-of-common-interest approval, an additional planning permission requirement emerges for certain types of projects, most notably cables, including interconnection. Amendments Nos. 178 and 179 address these potential additional consent requirements. They are limited in their application to those developments that already have a foreshore consent in place and, in the case of larger-scale developments in the maritime area, that have had an EIA or AA, or both, carried out for the entire project. This will ensure the State remains in compliance with EU environmental law and that the amendments cannot be used to circumvent such obligations, where they arise.

Section 182A of the Planning and Development Act 2000 deals specifically with electricity transmission developments, transmission being high-voltage cables, being carried out by statutory undertakers. Amendment No. 178 inserts a new section 241, which amends section 182A of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to provide that where a proposed development for electricity transmission infrastructure is licensed under the Foreshore Act 1933 before the commencement of this section, it does not require an additional consent under section 182A. The section further provides that an EIA and-or AA must have been carried out before the issue of the licence and that the provisions of that licence shall be deemed to apply to the development as a whole. This section also makes a technical amendment to section 182A to clarify that the requirement for landowner consent prior to an application under section 182A for development in the maritime area refers to land in the maritime area. This is to avoid any conflict with provisions dealing with land in the area of terrestrial planning.

Amendment No. 179 is a linked amendment that inserts a new section 182AA into the Planning and Development Act 2000. Section 182AA provides that an application under section 182A of the 2000 Act is not necessary where an application is made to An Bord Pleanála under section 291 of that Act in respect of a development in the maritime area for the purposes of electricity transmission. This is a clarifying amendment that removes an anomaly whereby consent may be required under both sections 291 and 182A.

Amendment No. 180 deals with a transitional matter and provides a new section 243, which inserts a new section 278A into the Planning and Development Act 2000. Section 278A disapplies the requirement for a maritime area consent, MAC, for strategic infrastructure development where the prospective applicant has entered into pre-application consultations with An Bord Pleanála before 1 October 2022. This is to ensure projects that entered the planning system under section 37B of the Act prior to the commencement of Part 21 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which introduced the requirement for a MAC, can continue in the consent process notwithstanding the introduction of a new marine planning regime. This exemption is only applicable to strategic infrastructure development where the subsequent application for development consent is made before 1 October 2024. This ensures that where a development is not completed within the required timeframes, the obligations under the new maritime planning regime will apply.

Amendment No. 181 inserts a new section 244 amending section 280 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The amendment is intended to further address transition issues in the move from the system operating under the Foreshore Act 1933 to the new marine planning system provided for in the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021. These provisions deal with the situation of projects that were under way at the time of the commencement of Part 8 of the 2021 Act on 1 October 2022. Part 8 inserted Part 21 into the Planning and Development Act 2000, bringing the new maritime planning regime into operation. This amendment clarifies that the new provisions in Part 21 relating to development in the nearshore area do not apply to projects that are fully consented but have not yet commenced construction, projects that are under construction but not completed and projects that have been completed, as long as the development in question is the subject of either a lease or a licence made or granted before 1 October 2017. This ensures such projects will not be not subject to the revised legislative requirements introduced after they completed the consenting process in place at the time. However, this disapplication only applies where the development in question is completed within five years of the commencement of this section. Outside of that, the process will need to be restarted as a new application and an application for a MAC must be made.Amendment No. 183 inserts a new section 246, amending section 285 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. This is a mirror provision to section 244. It addresses the same transition issues arising in respect of the move from the existing regime operating under the Foreshore Act 1933 to the new marine planning system provided in the Marine Area Planning Act 2021, but deals with development in the maritime area other than the nearshore. Similar to section 244, this amendment clarifies that the new provisions in Part 21 applying to development in the maritime area do not apply to projects that are fully consented but have not yet commenced construction, projects which are under construction but not completed and projects that have been completed, as long as the development in question is the subject of either a lease or a licence made or granted before 1 October 2017. This ensures that such projects are not subject to the revised legislative requirements introduced after they had completed the consenting process in place at that time. The disapplication only applies where the development in question is completed within five years of the commencement of this section. Outside of that, the process will need to be restarted as a new application and an application for a MAC will need to be made. This provision differs from section 244 in that it goes on to specify that any provisions of the lease or licence in place shall be deemed to apply to the development as a whole. This is included as a result of the fact that, from 1 October 2022, the maritime area in which authorisation is required has been extended to encompass the entire exclusive economic zone. Accordingly, any provisions attached to a lease or licence made or granted under the Foreshore Act 1933 are now to be considered as extending to the new development generally. This is principally relevant to development such as cabling or pipelines.

Amendments Nos. 182 and 184 insert sections 245 and 247, which amend sections 281(2) and 286 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. They provide technical amendments required as a result of the amendment of section 287 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and to ensure that the definition of “land” in sections 281(2)(b) and (d) and section 286 is clarified as meaning “land in the maritime area”. This is in order to avoid any conflict with provisions dealing with land in the area of terrestrial planning.

Amendment No. 185 inserts a new subsection in section 287 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to provide that applications for offshore renewable energy-related port infrastructure can enter pre-application consultations with An Bord Pleanála in the absence of a maritime area consent, MAC. The applicants for any such development will, however, be required to have a MAC in order to proceed with submitting a full planning application in accordance with section 291. This provision will shorten the overall consenting timelines for ports by enabling the MAC process and the preplanning process to run concurrently. It will ensure that, from a consenting perspective, the port infrastructure necessary for offshore energy development can be in place in time to meet the State’s 2030 target.