Vol. 525 No. 5
340 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands her views on whether it is difficult to have confidence in the fairness of the appeals board when the expert recommended to assist with objections in cases could have been involved in the original designation of the area now under appeal. [25828/00]
I set up the SAC appeals advisory board to consider each landowners objections on scientific grounds to lands being included in special areas of conservation. The board makes a recommendation to me on each such objection or appeal referred to it when the matter cannot be resolved directly between Dúchas and the landowner.
I am advised by the board that, at the outset of the appeals process, it issues to the appellant a list of consultants who have agreed to have their names put on a panel for this specific purpose. The appellant is advised that he-she may choose from that list of experts or, if they so wish, engage the services of a suitably qualified person whose name is not on the list. A guideline laid down in the latter situation is that the chosen expert is asked to contact the secretary to the board. This is to ensure that an expert, who has not previously carried out this work on behalf of an appellant, is suitably qualified, fully understands the brief and is in possession of the required grounding documents.
Before the actual work is commissioned neither the board nor anyone else commits any appellant to using a particular consultant. On the contrary, every effort is made to ensure that the appellant is happy with the expert who is undertaking the case on his-her behalf.
The board is aware that on a few occasions consultants have disqualified themselves from cases in which they had a previous involvement. This involvement may have been at the initial designation stage, working for Dúchas, or at planning-environmental impact statement stage working for the appellant.
341 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the percentage of County Galway designated currently as national heritage areas and special areas of conservation; the additional percentage being proposed under any of the above headings; and her views on whether the county is now at saturation point with regard to re-designation; and if she will state the national percentage similarly designated. [25829/00]
Land and freshwater areas comprising approximately 25% of County Galway have been designated or proposed for NHA-SAC-SPA designation. This figure includes bays, estuaries, lakes and rivers. The corresponding national percentage is approximately 13%.
There are no proposals at present to designate additional areas in County Galway although it may be necessary in the future to propose a small number of additional SPA or SAC sites in order to comply with European directives.
I do not consider the use of the term "saturation point" to be appropriate. I recognise that in County Galway, and some other western counties, a relatively high percentage of the land area is included, because of the high ecological quality of these lands. For the most part, except where there has been recent overgrazing, the ecological quality of these sites will be maintained by the continuation of existing land management practices.
