Vol. 457 No. 3
83 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht if he will consider designating the Howth peninsula and Baldoyle estuary racecourse lands as national parks in view of the failure of local authorities to protect the green belt around Dublin city. [15291/95]
There are five national parks designated to date in Ireland:— Killarney National Park, County Kerry; Glenveagh National park, County Donegal, Connemara National Park, County Galway, Wicklow Mountains National Park, County Wicklow and the Burren National Park, County Clare. These parks were established in accordance with international criteria for national parks which are set down by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The IUCN maintain, at the request of the United Nations, a list of national parks which comply with the international criteria; Ireland's five national parks are included on the list.
The IUCN criteria for national parks require that the area to be designated is a national area containing one or more ecosystems of national importance. Exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of conserving the ecosystems are not permitted and the State should either own or control the lands to be designated.
The "national park" designation is primarily concerned with conserving the ecological intergrity of a site rather than with preserving its amenity value, although public access which is compatible with the conservation of the site is facilitated.
The Howth Peninsula and Baldoyle Estuary-Racecourse do not meet the criteria for national parks and it would be inappropriate, therefore, to consider such a designation for these areas. I should point out, however, that Baldoyle Estuary is protected under the Wildlife Act, 1976, having been designated a nature reserve under section 15 of the Act in 1988.
