Until December 2021, the legislation governing construction at sea was The Foreshore Act 1933. But although a new marine planning regime was introduced, the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021, the influences of the Foreshore Act continue to dominate. The 1933 Act gave power to a Minister to grant foreshore licences (for site investigation) and foreshore leases (for construction) for proposed offshore projects on his sole authority. It was used by successive Ministers over the past 25 years to give consent to prospective offshore wind developers who selected areas of the foreshore (out to 12 nautical miles or 22.2 km) on a ‘first-come-first-served’, ad hoc, basis, with no environmental constraints. The consequences of this developer-led planning and lax regulation are widespread, posing significant threats to valuable marine habitats and species and undermining the democratic process.

Firstly, many current development proposals target high biodiversity value sites that are, in fact, completely unsuitable for development. See the Fair Seas report ‘Revitalising our Seas’ for further details.

Secondly, over the past decade, most of the original stakeholders have sold on all, or part, of their dubious interests, netting them large profits in return for access to State-owned foreshore. In February 2020, for example, it was reported that French energy giant, EDF, acquired a 50% stake in the proposed Codling windfarm from a company linked to developer, Johnny Ronan, at an estimated cost of €100 million. Just months earlier, in June 2019, official documentation shows that €5m was owed by Codling in unpaid fees to the State, that it was considered that Codling was close to being in development default and that the Department was contemplating termination of the lease. By 19 May 2020, all this had changed. It was announced that Codling had been classified as a ‘relevant’ project, and would be fast-tracked through the consenting process. Unbelievably, all this happened in the absence of any environmental assessment or public consultation, at a time when the country was experiencing the early chaos of the Covid pandemic.  The Codling proposal continues to be advanced by EDF as one of the Phase 1 proposals granted Maritime Area Consents by Minister Eamon Ryan on 23rd December 2022, again with no public consultation or environmental constraints.