Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Feb 1990

Vol. 396 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Areas of Scientific Interest.

Mr. McCormack

I am concerned greatly that large areas of my constituency of west Galway are being designated areas of scientific interest. While I may have no objection to the end result of that, like the people of the area, I have a serious objection to those areas being declared areas of scientific interest without any consultation with the land owners some of whom learned of the designation when they sought development grants for their land. Such a move is seriously interfering with the rights of land owners in Connemara and other areas in the country where land has been designated areas of scientific interest. A map I have of the areas shows all the areas designated as being of scientific interest. One-third of some regions and half of other regions have been designated areas of scientific interest.

I have been seeking information about this matter for some considerable time. On 28 November last in a parliamentary question I asked the Minister for Finance about the declaring of the areas as being of scientific interest. His Minister of State, Deputy Daly, in the course of his reply, said that grants for the development of such areas would not normally be paid from EC funds. That is causing serious concern in the area. It has been brought to my notice that a farmer in Moycullen who was developing some marginal land for afforestation under the guidance of the local forestry adviser, was refused a grant. When he had planted six of the ten acres set aside for planting the forester visited him and complimented him on the great job he was doing. He encouraged him to continue with the work and informed him that he would notify him of the amount of the grant in due course. Subsequently, he received a letter from Coillte Teoranta which stated:

Dear Mr. Palmer,

Sorry for not contacting you sooner, However, due to some problem with your application I could not do so before now.

Apparently, most of the townland of Ballyquirke falls into an area of "scientific interest", ref. No. 32 on the map, sheet 14, Galway.

Under regulations which we have to adhere to, we cannot recommend any area which falls within the areas of scientific interest for grant aid.

It is wholly unjust that a farmer should be allowed to proceed that far only to be told that his land was in an area of scientific interest. He had no knowledge of that designation and had not been consulted about it.

I communicated with Coillte Teoranta about that case and I received the following reply:

Dear Deputy,

Thank you for your letter of 26 January, 1990 on behalf of Mr. James Palmer, Ballyquirke, Moycullen, County Galway, who has applied for a forestry grant.

It is the policy of the Forest Service that areas designated as areas of "scientific interest" are not eligible for grant aid. I have, accordingly, referred your query to the Forest Service for their attention.

I have not had a positive response to that query since. That is an example of what is happening in Connemara.

What is the position of farmers carrying on ordinary farming activities on their land? Will they be entitled to ewe premiums, sheep headage and cattle headage payments, some of which come from the EC? I should like to give some information concerning an application by a sheep farmer in the Kylemore area of Connemara. He received an advance payment on his ewe premium on 29 December 1989 and he cashed the cheque in a bank in Clifden on 29 January. On 5 February he received a letter from the bank informing him that they had received a letter from the Department to the effect that they were revoking payment on the cheque and subsequently payment was stopped on the cheque which was for more than £5,000. That case does not relate to areas of scientific interest but it concerns the Office of Public Works who claim that the farmer's sheep strayed on to their land. That man has more than 750 acres of his own and there was no need for his sheep to graze on any other land.

The House will be aware of the much publicised decision of business people in Clifden to build an air strip to serve Clifden and Connemara. Their interest in a particular site was declared in 1983. Purchase options and contracts were signed in 1987 and a planning application was filed on 6 January 1989. The local authority were notified of the change in the ASI boundaries in the spring of 1989. The site for the air strip was in an area of scientific interest and Galway County Council refused planning permission. Leaving aside the question of whether an airport on that site would be viable it is important to bear in mind that the people, and the county council, were not made aware of the fact that the area had been designated as an area of scientific interest until about five years after the people expressed an interest in the site, which was three months after they had applied for planning permission.

Areas of scientific interest on the map, 12A and 12B, are the Inagh Valley and the Inagh Lake but on the shore of that lake Carrolls have developed a major fish farming enterprise. They can make a major road through the wood and build a major project. They can avail of grants despite the fact that the Inagh lake is an area of scientific interest.

I would like to know why the same criteria do not apply to the ordinary person. I am putting it to the Minister of State and to the Government that I want legislation introduced in the Dáil, if necessary, so that officers of the Office of Public Works cannot draw a circle on people's lands and declare it an area of scientific interest without consultation with the land owner and without entering into compensation agreements, as applies in other EC countries, for example, Scotland——

An Ceann Comhairle

Sorry, I must now call the Minister to reply.

Mr. McCormack

——where up to £45 an acre can be granted.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. Daly)

In the limited time at my disposal it is very difficult to give a comprehensive reply to this very important matter but I will endeavour to do so. Areas of scientific interest — ASIs as they are commonly known — are areas of special interest with fauna and flora, either as individual species of community ecosystems or for its geology or topography of the land form. To expand on this definition, they are areas where rare and often protected plants or animals occur and where many good examples of typical or a rare community of plants or animals can occur. These areas are all of conservation interest, many are potential nature reserves or refuges for fauna and some have already been declared as such. Areas of scientific interest may be linked to national monuments or buildings of architectural or, indeed, historical interest. They are part of the nation's natural heritage.

The lists of ASIs being drawn up by the Wildlife Service have an inventory of our natural resources which, it is felt, should be conserved. Such a list is required because these areas are under increasing threat from developments of various kinds. Areas such as these are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide and most countries have drawn up inventories or maps that identify the areas as a first step towards their conservation.

During the fifties and sixties many European countries began to compile inventories of areas of scientific interest. In Ireland the first comprehensive survey was undertaken by An Foras Forbartha in the early seventies. This was published in Areas of Scientific Interest in Ireland in 1981. The Wildlife Service augmented this list from its own surveys and when the work of An Foras Forbartha was terminated, the functions were taken over by the Wildlife Service. The surveys are not yet complete — in fact, the lists are continually under review. In 1982 maps were compiled to show all the ASIs and these have been revised twice, in 1982 and in 1986-87. Some sheets are currently being revised again because, as Deputies will be aware, some of these areas are continuously coming to the attention of the specialists involved in this area.

Areas of scientific interest are identified, they are not designated, and the process is basically a statistical collection of data. Areas of scientific interest are selected by highly qualified scientists, usually ecologists, who have a specialist knowledge of, for example, peatlands, wetlands, coastal areas, etc. The sites are selected only after very carefuly survey and assessment. They are classified into four broad categories: those which would be regarded as sites of international importance, national sites, regional sites and local sites.

The identification of ASIs is an integral part of the functions under the Wildlife Act, 1976. There are about 1,600 ASIs covering approximately 400,000 hectares, including lakes and tidal mud-flats. This represents about 4 per cent of the land surface of the country, a figure which is comparable with most other EC countries. They are widely dispersed throughout the country but tend to be concentrated in the areas of poorer quality land and are, as the Deputy pointed out, particularly abundant in the midland in the raised bogs, in Connemara, Mayo and in the blanket and peat bogs, in the Burren — in my own constituency — and in the coastal areas of Donegal and Wexford.

Identification of areas of scientific interest is a requirement under a decision of the European Communities Council of Ministers adopted in June 1985. Ireland has a remarkable heritage of historic and scientific sites varied in type and widely spread over the face of the country. This heritage is of growing importance for the purpose of education and of recreation, not only in the daily lives of Irish people but also in the development of tourism, the pursuit of historical and scientific research. It is, however, being steadily whittled away by neglect, by the natural forces on the one hand and by human exploitation, pollution and other aspects of modern development on the other hand. This represents a serious loss to the nation since the heritage properly cared for and suitably developed will bring many and continuing benefits to present and future generations.

Because of the time limit I would like to deal with a few specific points very quickly. In relation to legislation the Government indicated in their environmental programme recently published that undertakings were given that these areas of scientific interest, drawn up by the Wildlife Service, would be fully publicised and an amendment to the Wildlife Act — due for introduction later this year — will deal with them further. The Office of Public Works and the Wildlife Service merely identify the areas and mark them out on maps which are made available to local authorities and other interested parties. It is then up to the local authorities and the planning authorities to ensure, in the decision-making process, that account is taken of these very special and unique areas.

In November last I indicated to the Deputy that if he wanted to discuss this matter I was prepared to discuss it with him and that the officials of my Department would be available to discuss it too. I believe that the preservation and protection of our national heritage is of vital importance. It is in the interests of everybody in this House to support the Wildlife Service and the work they are doing in this regard.

Mr. McCormack

What about the compensation factor?