Vol. 534 No. 4
82 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if she will bring the 4% increase in her budget for nature conservation up to the average 20% increase for her Department in view of the increased workload for Dúchas as a result of new legislation in this area. [10782/01]
The provision in the expenditure Estimates for nature conservation in recent years does not lend itself to the single incremental comparison made by the Deputy between annual allocations for 2000 and 2001 in respect of nature conservation, subhead S, in the Vote of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.
The allocation in 2001 is £19.325 million as against actual expenditure in 2000 of £14.87 million and this represents an increase of 30%. While the increase in the allocation between 1997 and 2000 is of the order of 38%, the increase in actual expenditure during the same period represents an increase of 74%, with significant variations in both allocation and expenditure figures during the same period. The significant variation between the allocations made during this period and the actual expenditure incurred is largely related to the rate of take up of compensatory schemes arising from the designation of special areas of conservation under the EU Habitats Directive. Compensation is payable to landowners where restrictions arising from the designation of special areas of conservation result in an actual loss of income to the landowner. Compensation costs are particularly difficult to estimate, as restrictions on lands and actual losses can vary from landholding to landholding and there can be a significant time lag between agreement on compensation schemes and maximum take up under those schemes. Also, there will be variations from year to year on the expenditure arising from compensation costs, which contributes significantly to the variation in actual expenditure incurred in recent years.
