106. (1) The relevant person may, before the fifth anniversary of the coming into operation of this section (or, where subsection (4) applies, the first anniversary referred to in that subsection), make a MAC application for the unauthorised usage concerned and, in any such case, the provisions of this Act shall, with all necessary modifications, apply to take account of the fact that such usage is an existing maritime usage and not a proposed maritime usage.

(2) Subsection (3) applies to the relevant person (including any predecessors to such person) and the unauthorised usage concerned immediately on and after—

(a) the fifth anniversary of the coming into operation of this section (or, where subsection (4) applies, the first anniversary referred to in that subsection) without a MAC application referred to in subsection (1) having been made for such usage,

(b) the date on which the MARA is satisfied that, although a MAC application referred to in subsection (1) has been made for such usage, the application has been abandoned or withdrawn before its determination under section 81, or

(c) where a MAC application referred to in subsection (1) has been made for such usage, the date on which the applicant is notified of the refusal under section 81, in the determination of the application, to grant a MAC for such usage.

(3) (a) Where this subsection applies, the MARA may use, on behalf of the State, any and all remedies available to the State (whether under this Act or another enactment or under the common law) against or in relation to the relevant person (including any predecessors to such person) and the unauthorised usage concerned including, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, remedies to provide for all or any of the following:

(i) cause the unauthorised usage to cease;

(ii) obtain compensation or damages for the unauthorised usage;

(iii) provide for the rehabilitation of the part of the maritime area the subject of the unauthorised usage.

(b) The MARA may exercise its power under paragraph (a) jointly with one or more than one other public body that has statutory functions in relation to maritime usages of the type that is the unauthorised usage concerned.

(4) The MARA may, where it is of the opinion that a particular unauthorised usage is an impediment to the effective and efficient performance of its functions, by notice in writing given to the relevant person, and for the reasons stated in the notice, specify that, in the case of that usage, the words “the first anniversary of the giving of the notice concerned under subsection (4) ” are substituted for the words “the fifth anniversary of the coming into operation of this subsection” in subsections (1) and (2)(a).

(5) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the State or a public body other than the MARA from making use, independently of the MARA, of a remedy referred to in subsection (3) against or in relation to the relevant person (including any predecessors thereto) and the unauthorised usage concerned.

(6) In this section—

“relevant person”, in relation to an unauthorised usage, means the person undertaking such usage immediately before 12 August 2021, and regardless of whether or not such person is the same person who first undertook such usage;

“unauthorised usage” means a maritime usage—

(a) undertaken by a person before 12 August 2021,

(b) which, in order to be lawfully undertaken before that date, was required to be, but was not, the subject of a foreshore authorisation, and regardless as to whether or not any other authorisations (whether the authorisation takes the form of the grant of a licence, consent, approval or any other type of authorisation) were required, or were in fact granted, under any other enactment in order to enable the person referred to in paragraph (a) to undertake such usage, and

(c) which, if it were undertaken on or after the coming into operation of Chapter 2, would be required by that Chapter to be the subject of a MAC.