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

Amendments Nos. 207, 208 and 211 are technical amendments providing definitions. Amendment Nos. 209 inserts section 272 amending section 75 of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to disapply the requirement in section 75 to hold a maritime area consent, MAC, before applying for development consent. This applies where a prospective applicant has entered into pre-application consultations with An Bord Pleanála before 1 October 2022. The provision is intended to ensure that 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, may continue in that consent process notwithstanding the introduction of a new marine planning regime. It is a partner provision to the amendment at section 243. This provision requires however that an application for a MAC must be made within two years of the grant of planning consent.

Amendment No. 210 provides for the addition of a new section 75A. This amendment is intended to ensure that where a valid development permission exists for the maritime space in the absence of valid consent to occupy that maritime space from the State, an avenue is available to regularise the situation and obtain such consent without having to reapply for a new planning permission. This provision is timebound and restricted to development permissions obtained prior to the establishment of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, and requires that applications for related MACs in these circumstances be made to the MARA prior to 17 July 2024.

Amendment No. 212 inserts a new section 76A into the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 disapplying the provisions of sections 75 and 76 where a lease is made or a licence granted pursuant to an application for such lease or licence made under the Foreshore Act before the establishment of MARA thereby ensuring that there is no requirement for a MAC in such circumstances.

Amendment No. 214 is intended to address concerns which arose in the context of the maritime area consents issued under the Maritime Area Planning Act to phase 1 offshore renewable energy projects in December 2022. The Maritime Area Planning Act provides at section 144(1)(b) that if the holder of a MAC becomes subject to a winding-up order or if a receiver or examiner is appointed, the MAC automatically terminates. In the drafting of these phase 1 MACs it became apparent that the wording of section 144 as it stands has the unintended consequence of preventing the holder of a MAC from identifying a suitable replacement holder from taking control of the project in the event a termination occurs as per section 144 of the Act. The automatic termination provision is problematic for investors and financial institutions in the context of providing project finance and may pose a significant obstacle to financing and developing an offshore renewable energy, ORE, project.

The issue that this amendment seeks to address is that currently if an offshore wind farm gets into financial difficulty and becomes insolvent, the relevant authorisation granting the right to develop the project automatically terminates, without those lending money to facilitate the development of the project having an opportunity to remedy or rescue the project. The proposed amendment provides for a short suspension of the automatic termination provisions, which would potentially facilitate the identification of a suitable replacement entity, thus allowing an ORE project to continue. Under the proposed approach, MARA will have the right to suspend the automatic termination provisions and require a defaulting offshore wind farm developer to submit a proposal for assignment to a new holder, under the existing assignment provisions of section 85 of the Marine Area Planning Act.It is envisaged that, on foot of these amendments, DECC and MARA will produce guidance in relation to the factors that MARA will or will not consider in reviewing, approving or refusing an assignment request under the new section 144A (4), (5) or (6)

Amendment No. 213 is a related minor technical amendment.