On a day to day basis, the conservation interests in SACs are monitored and managed by the locally-based staff of my Department's National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
NPWS operates on the basis of seven regional divisions, each headed by a regional manager. Regional staff liaise as necessary with NPWS HQ in Dublin, where the service's administrative and research units are located.
NPWS local staff are always prepared to discuss with local people their concerns regarding the implications of SAC designation and to explore ways to achieve the protection of such sites in a way that best addresses local concerns.
Affected persons can, through NPWS local staff, informally object to the extent of designation proposals or to the conditions that are proposed for the protection of these sites. Use of this informal channel in no way dilutes the more formal rights of objection that apply, whereby owners or occupiers of land in proposed SACs have three months from the date that they are notified under Regulation 4 (2) of the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations, 1997 (S.I. No. 94 of 1997), that their land is affected by designation proposals to object, on scientific grounds, to the proposed designation.
Under the formal system, objections to the extent of designations or to the protective conditions proposed will be assessed by a Committee, comprising of representatives of landowners-users and other conservation interests, with an independent chairperson.
Finally, NPWS strategy in individual SACs will in most cases be informed by conservation plans, which are currently being prepared. Before these plans are finalised, there will be local public consultation where people can make an input to the process, and every effort will be made to take account of such inputs in the final versions of these plans.
