Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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25. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is aware of delays in securing marine use licenses and maritime area consents; the steps being taken to address these delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22029/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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26. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the impact of delays in granting marine use licenses on maritime activities and projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22032/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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27. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is aware of delays in securing maritime area consents; the steps being taken to address these delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22035/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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28. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the impact of delays in granting maritime area consents on offshore renewable energy projects and other maritime developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22038/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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29. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the statutory deadlines for processing applications for marine use licences and maritime area consents by the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22039/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 together.

The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) was established on 17th July 2023, at which point the aAgency assumed responsibility for all statutory functions under the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Act 2021, as amended. MARA has a system for the prioritisation of all Maritime Area Consent (MAC) and Maritime Usage Licence (MUL) applications, to provide for effective decision making and to ensure that applications of national strategic importance are assessed in line with Government policy.

The MAP Act 2021, as amended, contains provisions that establish timeframes in which the MARA must take a decision on applications. These provisions state that, when it is satisfied that the applicant has complied with all relevant requirements, MARA shall, where it is practical to do so, determine a MAC application not later than 90 days and a MUL application not later than 30 days after the relevant requirements have been deemed to have been met.

Since its early days of establishment, MARA has brought several long-term positive impacts to Ireland’s marine planning and development system, including issuing a determination in respect of 11 of 13 MACs received in relation to offshore renewable energy (ORE) projects

MARA recognises that its future structure and processes must be informed by learnings from its initial years of operation and is implementing several key steps, with the aim of streamlining its processes, building its capacity and ensuring legal and environmental compliance. MARA is, in that context, actively recruiting staff, and recently submitted a business case seeking approval to amend its current sanctioned staff complement to better reflect the operational needs of the Authority. This case is under active consideration by my Department and both my officials and I, as Minister, continue to engage with the Authority on this as a matter of priority.