Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 29 May 2001

Vol. 537 No. 2

Written Answers. - Special Areas of Conservation.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

86 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the number of special areas of conservation created here; the way in which this number compares with similar orders in EU states; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15786/01]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera)

The European Union habitats directive requires member states to propose, on the basis of specified scientific criteria, relevant natural areas for designation as special areas of conservation, SACs.

To date Ireland has proposed 362 sites as candidate SACs. This represents a total area of 9,907 square kilometres. In view of the varying sizes of member states, and of individual SACs, it is not very useful to compare numbers of sites. To compare national lists of candidate special areas of conservation, the standard approach adopted by the EU Commission is to express the total extent of candidate SACs in each country, including marine areas, as a percentage of the land area of the country. Ireland's proposals, by this calculation, amount to 14.1% of the area of the country. According to recent information from the EU, this would rank us seventh among the 15 EU member states, and slightly above the overall figure for the EU of 13.1%.

One should not attach too much importance to such figures, in view of the differing types and conditions of natural areas across Europe. I am satisfied that the extent of our proposals, and the procedures we have followed, particularly in allowing time for consideration of landowners concerns, provide the basis for very effective implementation of the habitats directive in Ireland.