Vol. 515 No. 5
38 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if her attention has been drawn to the recent criticism made by the Worldwide Fund for Nature of Ireland for failure to fulfil obligations under the EU habitats and wildbird directives; the steps, if any, being taken to ensure that all obligations under these directives are honoured; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6292/00]
The Worldwide Fund for Nature has not informed my Department of any concerns it may have regarding Ireland's fulfilment of obligations under the EU habitats and birds directives.
The Habitats Directive requires member states to propose relevant natural areas for designation as special areas of conservation and to protect their favourable conservation status. It was transposed into Irish law in 1997. Since then my Department has publicly advertised 335 proposed candidate special areas of conservation; it has formally transmitted 252 of these sites to the European Commission for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network. I anticipate the public advertisement of marine SACs, together with the remaining terrestrial SACs later this month. The Commission has instituted legal proceedings against Ireland for failure to transmit sites by a deadline and these proceedings are still in place.
The European Commission agrees with me, and with the Government, that the viability of the Natura 2000 network of sites is dependent on the co-operation of the landowners and land users whose lands are included in the sites. All those whose lands are proposed for SAC designation must be given an opportunity to object to the proposals, on scientific grounds, before I formally transmit the list to the commission. To this end I have established a formal independent board, chaired by Mr. Michael Mills the former Ombudsman, and comprising representation from the landowners and the conservation organisations, to independently assess appeals and to advise me on these matters.
The European Commission has been notified of our proposals in relation to SACs and the reasons for the failure to meet the deadline for transmission of the list of sites to the commission. The Commission is also aware that, while Ireland is technically not in compliance with the directive, the advertised sites receive full protection under our national legislation.
I anticipate that prior to the completion of the legal proceedings Ireland will be in full compliance with the directive. Ireland has designated 111 special protection areas under the EU Birds Directive. Recently the Boyne estuary special protection area and the Tolka estuary Sandymount strand special protection area have been extended. Additional survey work will be carried out this year with a view to determining whether additional sites should be designated, or existing sites extended.
