Vol. 542 No. 3
158 Mr. Connaugton asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the reason a person (details supplied) in County Galway is not allowed to remove his machinery from Monakeeba East Bog in County Galway; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that this per son stopped work since 23 August 2001; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24575/01]
Monakeeba Bog lies within Barroughter Bog, candidate special area of conservation cSAC No. 231. When officials from Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department became aware of ongoing works which could have negative impacts on the ecological value of the – cSAC – they asked the contractor engaged in these works to cease activities, pending discussions with landowners on measures required to protect the conservation value of the site. The sole concern of my officials was to protect the site and they did not, at any stage, require that machinery be retained on site or take measures to prevent its removal. The contractor was free at all times to remove the machinery, if he so required.
