{"id":5262,"date":"2025-12-01T17:14:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maritimeregulator.ie\/?p=5262"},"modified":"2025-12-01T17:14:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:14:38","slug":"mara-announces-publication-of-first-annual-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maritimeregulator.ie\/ga\/mara-announces-publication-of-first-annual-report\/","title":{"rendered":"MARA announces publication of first Annual Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>1 December 2025: The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), today published its first Annual Report covering the period from establishment on the 17 July 2023 to year end 2024. The publication marks a significant governance milestone for MARA as an independent State agency.<\/p>\n<p>The annual report gives an overview of progress during the first 18 months of operation, highlighting some of MARA\u2019s key achievements during that period:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Developed processes and systems to support issuing Maritime Area Consents (MAC) and Maritime Usage Licences (MUL),<\/li>\n<li>Established the basis on which holders will pay for MACs,<\/li>\n<li>Issued its first maritime authorisations,<\/li>\n<li>Transitioned the responsibility for managing the existing foreshore estate from DCEE to MARA,<\/li>\n<li>Initiated opportunities for co-operation including the establishment of the Maritime Regulatory Liaison Group,<\/li>\n<li>Launched its first Strategic Plan 2024 \u2013 2027,<\/li>\n<li>Recruited a skilled team and opened MARA\u2019s HQ in Drinagh, Wexford,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>MARA\u2019s Chairperson, Mark Mellett, Vice Admiral DSM (Rtd) said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIreland\u2019s maritime area is of strategic national importance and it holds enormous potential. It supports, marine biodiversity, renewable energy, sustainable transport, aquaculture, and so much more. MARA\u2019s role is to manage the State\u2019s maritime jurisdiction in a way that is congruent with Government Policy supporting Ireland\u2019s climate action goals, economic development, and environment protection. MARA\u2019s first annual report shows how MARA has put in place the structures, staff and regulations to support MARA\u2019s vision for a well-regulated maritime space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MARA\u2019s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Laura Brien joined MARA\u2019s Chairperson in noting the achievement. MARA\u2019s CEO said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublishing our first annual report is an important milestone in the development of MARA and demonstrates our commitment to transparency and accountability. During the first 18 months of operations, MARA\u2019s priority was to recruit staff and establish sound regulatory policies and procedures to fulfil its mandate.<\/p>\n<p>The report captures not only the organisational progress but the wider strategic significance of MARA\u2019s role in shaping Ireland\u2019s maritime future. As delivery of MARA\u2019s strategic plan is progressed, MARA is determined to grow into a world-class maritime regulator, ensuring Ireland\u2019s ocean space is developed and protected for the benefit of current and future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Chairperson and CEO concluded:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe acknowledge the support of the Board, MARA\u2019s dedicated staff and the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment to deliver on MARA\u2019s important mandate. MARA is grateful to all our stakeholders, whose input and collaboration will remain central to the Authority\u2019s work in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Notes<\/p>\n<p>The MARA Annual Report 2024 is now available on the MARA website in both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maritimeregulator.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MARA_Annual_Report_2024_Final_Eng_WEB.pdf\">English<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maritimeregulator.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MARA-Annual-Report-2024_v3_GAE.pdf\">Irish<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 December 2025: The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), today published its first Annual Report covering the period from establishment on the 17 July 2023 to year end 2024. The publication marks a significant governance milestone for MARA as an independent State agency. The annual report gives an overview of progress during the first 18 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>MARA announces publication of first Annual Report - MARA - Maritime Area Regulatory Authority<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.maritimeregulator.ie\/mara-announces-publication-of-first-annual-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MARA announces publication of first Annual Report - MARA - Maritime Area Regulatory Authority\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1 December 2025: The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), today published its first Annual Report covering the period from establishment on the 17 July 2023 to year end 2024. 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