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Maritime Area Consent (MAC)
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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One of the main features of the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Act is the creation of a new State consent, the Maritime Area Consent (MAC), as a first step in the new planning process. To make achievement of our 2030 targets feasible, a pathway was provided to enable a select number of projects which had advanced under the existing Foreshore regime to transition to the new MAP regime once established.
Under the special transition provisions in the MAP Act, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications has the responsibility for assessing applications for MACs from a first group (Phase One) of seven offshore projects.
Projects that obtain a MAC are required to apply for all requisite consents and planning permission and will be subject to the full assessment procedures by An Bord Pleanála.
All MAC applicants were assessed in key areas, including financial and technical competency, in order to ensure that only the most viable offshore projects can apply for development permission from An Bord Pleanála.
After the assessment and grant of MACs for the first batch of ORE projects, responsibility for MACs will be managed by a new Agency, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), which will be established and operational from 2023.
The MAC assessment regime for Phase One projects was launched by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on 21 March 2022. The application window for the submission of MAC applications from Phase One projects opened on 25 April 2022 and closed on 22 June 2022.
The below guidance provided applicants with the necessary information needed to make an application for a MAC. This guidance applies to the Phase One projects only, and includes additional important information on the operation of the MAC consenting regime.
Following completion of comprehensive assessments in accordance with the MAP Act, six Maritime Area Consents (MACs) have been granted by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, with a commencement date of 23 December 2022.
An information notice which provides information on the Phase One MACs which have been granted, in addition to their spatial footprint, is available below.
All Phase One MAC documents are available to view below.
Please note that the validity of any decision made on these applications may be questioned by judicial review under Order 84 of the Rules of the Superior Courts (S.I. No.15 of 1986), as amended.
Any application for leave to apply for judicial review must be made within eight weeks from the date of the decision.
Further information on judicial review and MACs can be found at Section 107 of the MAP Act.
Practical information on the review mechanism can be obtained from Citizens Information at your local Citizens Information Centre, by phone on 0761 07 4000 or online at citizensinformation.ie.
The agreed levy framework which will apply to the Phase One projects, outlined hereunder, has been informed by a benchmarking review against international best practice. With the approval of the Minister and the consent of the Minister for PER, the following levy framework will apply.
Two different levy rates will apply; a development stage levy, which will apply from the point of award of a MAC until when a project reaches Commercial Operation Date (COD) and an operational stage levy from COD to the decommissioning stage.
- Development Stage Levy - A levy based on square area occupied by the MAC is the most suitable development-stage metric to incentivise swift deployment and to incentivise efficient use of the marine area space. A development levy rate of €20,000/km2/annum will apply, indexed to the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)
- Operational Stage Levy - A levy based on a percentage of gross revenue is the most suitable operational-stage metric, balancing revenue risk to both the project and the State. An operational levy rate of 2% of gross revenue will apply, with a minimum annual levy equal to the development stage levy.
The windfarm area which is the subject of the MAC will be taken as the basis for the calculation of the development stage levy for the Phase One projects. The associated cable corridors will be exempt from the development levy. This approach will apply to the Phase One projects and might not be applied to the subsequent Phase Two or Enduring consenting regimes, with the approach subject to review at a future date.