Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth – An Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland highlights the potential benefits and economic impact the Blue Economy can have for Ireland. Over the past number of years, the Irish Maritime Development Office has in conjunction with its parent agency, the Marine Institute, contributed to the formation of a national development plan for the marine sector and specifically the maritime services industry.
In 2012, the Irish State, under the auspices of the Interdepartmental Marine Coordination Group, undertook a public consultation to engage with stakeholders, industry practitioners, policy experts and the general public on the future of the Irish Marine/Maritime sector. The public consultation resulted in the creation of Ireland’s first integrated marine plan – Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth
Ireland’s Ocean Wealth
The aim of Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth is to ensure Ireland’s ocean wealth a key component of economic recovery and sustainable growth, generating social, cultural and economic benefits for Irish citizens. As part of the Plan the State set out two ambitious economic targets in 2012, the first target was to exceed €6.4 billion a year turnover in Ireland’s ocean economy by 2020. The second target was to double the contribution to GDP to 2.4% a year by 2030. The plan identified key actions needed to enable these targets to be achieved.
The Maritime Business Dimension
The Development Taskforce, in consultation with key stakeholders, outlined a clear strategy for the Maritime sector in the Our Ocean Wealth Development Task Force Report.
The task force identified a range of opportunities for Ireland including the development of new marine services in areas such as finance and training/education together with targeting new niche activities such as the establishment of a maritime commerce hub, building on the success of the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and the international aviation leasing sector. The task force also recommended targeting of new sectorial activities such as oil & gas platform end-of-life services, ICT of the sea, marine biotechnology, ocean racing yacht platforms and the strengthening and building of Ireland’s marine training and education offering to attract international students to Ireland.
A critically important role of these task forces was to draw from the relevant departments and agencies as well as external participants to provide unifying horizontal support policies for the programmes established by the department.
Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth Reports
| The Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth 2015 Report |
Development Task Force 2015 Report |