Vol. 543 No. 4
2 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the steps she is taking to ensure full compliance with the habitats directive, having regard to the finding of the European Union Court of Justice on 11 September 2001; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27139/01]
It is important to place the court finding in context. The judgment of the European Court of Justice essentially reflects the legal position prevailing in February 1998 concerning the transmission of candidate special areas of conservation to the European Commission. The court, in delivering its judgment, was precluded from considering progress made by Ireland in the intervening three years with regard to transmission of candidate SACs.
In February 1998 I informed the Commission that the delay in formally transmitting a list of candidate SACs was attributable to the wider consultation process which I instigated in Ireland. My position was, and still is, that the only long-term practical way of ensuring the conservation of these important wildlife areas is to acquire the co-operation of landowners and land users. To this end, I have insisted that additional consultation take place with those whose lands or land rights are affected prior to formal transmission of the sites.
The European Commission agrees with my view that the success of the Natura 2000 network is dependent on the co-operation of landowners and land users whose lands are included in the sites. All those whose lands are proposed for SAC designation should be given an opportunity to pursue any objections they may have to proposed designations. To this end, I arranged for appeals to be examined informally by Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department. I also established an SAC Appeals Advisory Board, chaired by Mr. Michael Mills, the former Ombudsman, and comprising equal representation from the landowners and conservation organisations, to assess appeals independently and advise me on these matters.
I am pleased to report that Ireland has made considerable progress since 1998 regarding the transmission of candidate special areas of conservation to the Commission. On taking office in 1997 I found that no sites had been transmitted to the Commission. Since then I have overseen the formal transmission of 363 sites which cover some 9,907 square kilometres. Having regard to the number and extent of SACs that I have now proposed I anticipate that Ireland's proposals will be found sufficient for most habitats and species at the second Atlantic region biogeographical seminar to be held early next year.
Additional information.I have decided, in principle, to propose new or extended SACs for the protection of salmon, but these cannot be formally proposed until surveys to define their boundaries have been completed. This work is now well under way. Although it is difficult to estimate an exact timeframe for completion of the survey work necessary to progress designation of salmon sites, I expect the final batch of candidate SAC sites to be advertised and transmitted to the European Commission in 2002. Ireland has fully implemented the habitats directive in law. The 1997 regulations which transposed the directive into Irish law provided for the sites to be protected from the time they are first proposed. These provisions have been reinforced by section 75 of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000.
I am grateful to the Minister for her reply. In effect, she is telling the House that the ruling of the European Court of Justice was out of date in as much as it was based on the situation in 1998. Will she quantify how matters have moved forward since February 1998? To what extent is Ireland now compliant? What improvements have taken place since the ruling by the European Court of Justice?
I thank the Deputy for his sup plementary question. It is important to clarify the position as the court's ruling was based on a technical matter. It was a question of timescale.
I have explained that when the Government took office not one site had been transmitted to the European Commission. To ensure the fairest possible procedures were put in place, I found it was better to take the time rather than rush the process and to make sure the liaison committees and the appeals system were put in place. Since then, 363 sites have been designated. That fulfils our objectives under the habitats directive with one exception and that is in regard to the protection of salmon. I decided, in principle, to propose newer extended SACs for the protection of salmon and work is now well under way. Although it is difficult to estimate an exact time frame for completion of the survey work necessary to proceed with the designation of salmon sites, I expect that the final batch of candidate SAC sites will be advised and transmitted to the European Commission in 2002.
Ireland has, as I have said, fully implemented the habitats directive in law. The 1997 regulations which transpose the directive into Irish law provide for the sites to be protected from the time they were first proposed – it was not just a question of when the designations were made but when they were first proposed. As I said, the only outstanding matter is in regard to the protection of salmon and work is well under way in that respect.
I very much welcome the extension of the SACs to the spawning grounds of salmon. Be the breach of the regulations technical or not, the Minister still has not informed the House if any progress has been made in terms of complaints since the ruling of the European Court of Justice was announced. Will she clarify the position and give us a specific answer?
With all due respect to the Deputy, he does not seem to understand the question.
The Minister does not want to answer it.
The court ruling was that there had not been the transmission. The full transmission of sites has occurred since then. This position was acknowledged by the EU Commission in its representations to the court.
