Vol. 540 No. 2
219 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if she can confirm that the proposed marine special areas of conservation under the Habitats Directive will come under her jurisdiction; if the existing Dúchas wildlife rangers will be responsible for monitoring these marine special areas of conservation; if inspections at sea will form part of this monitoring; and the resources which have been allocated for this role. [20247/01]
Responsibility for the protection of all candidate special areas of conservation – SAC – both marine and terrestrial, falls within my remit. As is presently the case, conservation rangers from Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department, will be responsible for ensuring that the marine sites are protected. It is anticipated that necessary monitoring may entail some inspections at sea. An additional 30 conservation rangers were taken on for three year contracts to deal with monitoring as well as other issues arising from the designation of SACs, including marine SACs, and I have also secured sanction to appoint two additional marine biologists.
