The Irish Maritime Directorate has issued a 'Notice to all Maritime Stakeholders' about the development of a strategy for the Directorate.
The Irish Maritime Directorate (IMD) is the term used to reflect the wide range of maritime responsibilities that fall within the remit of the Department of Transport. With Brexit on the horizon and an impending audit to be carried out by the International Maritime Organisation, the decision was taken to review the work of the Directorate. This has led to the development of this strategy.
The draft maritime strategy is centred around six core objectives which essentially capture the wide range of activities undertaken by the IMD in a coherent manner and serve to clarify the policy imperative that underpins them. These objectives are:
- Enhance Maritime Safety through effective regulation, implementation and compliance
- Facilitate Maritime Trade and Connectivity
- Deliver an effective Maritime Emergency Response (SAR and maritime casualty & pollution response)
- Protect the Environment from Ship Source Pollution
- Strive for Organisational Excellence
- Focus on Customer Service and Stakeholder Engagement
Consideration has been given to what the IMD needs to do, in addition to what we currently do, in order to deliver on each Core Objective.
The final strategy will fall out of the Department of Transport's Statement of Strategy and as such will be consistent with and seek to deliver on relevant Programme for Government commitments. It will also aim to embed an ethos of continuous improvement including regular reviews of procedures and practices, stakeholder engagement and communication strategies with the ultimate aim to measure and enhance our performance against the objectives set.
You are invited to review the proposed recommendations set out under each Core Objective in the consultation document attached and provide any comments you may have in relation to them as well as putting forward any views generally in relation to the development of a maritime strategy.
Reponses should be sent by email to [email protected] before 5pm on Friday 11 December 2020. It is intended that all responses will be considered in the development of a final published maritime strategy document.
The Department will not be replying individually to submissions. All submissions received are subject to Freedom of Information legislation. As a means of encouraging discussion and in the interest of transparency, it is our intention to post any submissions received on the Department's website unless we are requested not to do so.
Irish Maritime Administration,
Department of Transport,
Leeson Lane, Dublin 2, D02 TR60, Ireland.
Background
The Irish Maritime Administration was established in 2013 with an overall objective to integrate the planning, coordination and delivery of all the maritime services of the then Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport under a single national office in order to provide for a more efficient and effective delivery of maritime services. Given the passage of time, the impending International Maritime Organization (IMO) Audit (scheduled at that time for November 2021) and Brexit on the horizon, a review of the role of the IMA was considered timely.
It should be acknowledged that the concept of a "Maritime Administration" is a term recognised by the (IMO) and the European Maritime Safety Agency in the context of the obligations on national administrations arising from International Conventions / EU legislation. The set of policy responsibilities currently encompassed within the IMA has wider policy reach and for that reason, it was agreed that the IMA should be re-named as the Irish Maritime Directorate (IMD) and that the IMA concept as understood by international organisations would be a subset of the IMD, responsible for ensuring Ireland meets relevant international obligations. The strategy below reflects the wider range of maritime responsibilities that fall within the remit of the Department of Transport. An organogram setting out the various Divisions that make up the IMD is outlined below Please note this organogram does not reflect the reporting structures of the IMD and is purely for illustrative purposes.
This review has come at a time when Ireland's reliance on the maritime sector has been brought into sharp relief due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has resulted in us engaging with our stakeholders in new ways and allowed us to create and build relationships both internally and externally which otherwise may not have happened.
Since the pandemic started a new Government has been formed and each Department is required to produce a new Statement of Strategy reflecting the commitments set out in the new Programme for
Government (a separate wider consultation on this Statement of Strategy has already been completed). A number of important commitments in that Programme which impact on the maritime sector are set out below, some of which fall fully or partially within the remit of this Department:
Work with ports and airports to safeguard supply chains for businesses and access for tourists, as the economy is opened on a phased basis.
Review potential to expand passenger and cargo capability at all of our ports, prioritising rail connections and interchange.
Work with the ports and ferry companies to increase the number of foot and cycle passengers.
Produce a longer-term plan setting out how, as a country, we will take advantage of the massive potential of offshore energy on the Atlantic Coast. This plan will focus on utilising our existing energy and maritime infrastructure.
Examine the establishment of an offshore maritime area as Ireland's seventh national park.
Bring forward Ireland's first-ever National Marine Planning Framework. This will introduce a planning system for the development of Ireland's maritime area.
Aggressively tackle the issue of waste, ghost nets and illegal dumping in the marine environment, through rigorous implementation of the Port Reception Facilities Directives and by requiring all Irish fishing trawlers to participate in the Clean Oceans Initiative, ensuring that plastic fished up at sea is brought ashore.
Fund the Tourism Ireland Regional Cooperative Marketing Fund, which seeks to encourage new access and maximise the potential of existing air and sea services to those areas outside Dublin.
Examine the development of national tourism trails linking our ferry ports and rail network.
All of these proposals, which impact across a number of Government Departments, recognise the huge value of our maritime sector in supporting economic development, international connectivity and tourism via our ports. The final maritime strategy will align with the objectives of the Department of Transport's wider Statement of Strategy and will seek to deliver on the commitments set out in the Programme for Government. It will also tie in with the Department's draft mission statement set out in the draft statement of strategy which is to support communities and facilitate prosperity by delivering - with our agencies and partners - an accessible, efficient, safe and sustainable transport system.
All of these issues have been considered in developing a strategy for the maritime sector. It was agreed that any future strategy should:
- have a clear purpose
- include a long term vision with steps to how we get there
- consider our communication with our stakeholders
- be outward facing and accessible to the public
- address the legislation challenges
- ensure appropriate resource allocation to meet our goals
- include a process to measure and assess progress and allow for a continuous review of structure and resourcing.
- In order to explore these issues in more detail, discussions were held under five separate themes:
- An IMO compliant IMA
- SWOT analysis of current IMA (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
- How to get from here to there
- Stakeholder/communications issues
- Immediate priorities and next steps.
- In considering these themes, thought was given to what the current IMA did well, what could be improved upon and what we needed to do to develop this work further. The key strands emerging from those considerations were:
- Statement of IMA Strategy/Mission - objectives, goals and terms of reference
- Development of an IMA Business Plan
- Stakeholder Engagement – current structures and how to improve them
- Governance – current arrangements and any need for change
- Review of Strategies of other Maritime Administrations.
Draft Strategy
Following the analysis set out above, it was agreed to develop a draft strategy for the Irish Maritime Directorate based on six core objectives which essentially capture the wide range of activities undertaken by the IMA currently in a more coherent manner and serve to clarify the policy imperative that underpins them. These objectives are:
- Enhance Maritime Safety through effective regulation, implementation and compliance
- Facilitate Maritime Trade and Connectivity
- Deliver an effective Maritime Emergency Response (SAR and maritime casualty & pollution response)
- Protect the Environment from Ship Source Pollution
- Strive for Organisational Excellence
- Focus on Customer Service and Stakeholder Engagement
Each Core Objective has been further examined to determine what the IMD needs to do in order to deliver each Core Objective in addition to what we currently do. In other words, we are setting out below a series of recommendations under each objective which we believe will serve to enhance delivery of the objectives set out.
The final strategy will fall out of the Department of Transport's Statement of Strategy and as such will be consistent with and seek to deliver relevant Programme for Government commitments. We will seek to embed a continuous improvement ethos across the IMD's activities which will include regular reviews of procedures and practices; stakeholder engagement and communication strategies; all ultimately aimed at measuring and enhancing performance against the objectives set.
Consultation
You are invited to review the proposed recommendations set out under each Core Objective below and provide any comments you may have in relation to them.
Reponses should be sent by email to [email protected] before 5 pm on Friday 4 December 2020. It is intended that all responses will be considered in the development of a final published maritime strategy document.
