Vol. 551 No. 4
186 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if she will release the special areas of conservation manage ment documents for all sites, prepared by her Department, before the forthcoming election and before the second Nice Treaty referendum. [10830/02]
I have outlined the number of special area of conservation draft management plans, and the stages that these plans have reached as recently as 7 March 2002 in reply to Question No. 456 of 7 March 2002. Most of the draft plans for SACs and SPAs are ready to go to public consultation – 296 draft plans out of 341. In a small number of cases, 24, the public consultation process is already under way. However, before they go to the wider public I consider it imperative that land owners in SACs should be consulted and have their comments taken on board as far as possible.
The Deputy will also be aware of my firm view that the best way of facilitating this land owner consultation is by way of the local liaison committee. It has to be said that difficulty in setting up these committees in some areas has been a contributory factor to the slow progress that has been made to date with this work and I would welcome the Deputy's support for the establishment of local liaison committees in his area. I do not think it would be appropriate to use electoral deadlines for the purpose of making progress with this very important work. I feel that private landowners' rights should be fully respected and should not be compromised, and that ample time should be afforded for a full consultation process to take place.
187 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if she will release the special areas of conservation agreement re-negotiated with the IFA, where 5% of the land mass was to be designated; the reasons for the 14.1% designated; and if she will provide the subsequent minutes between officials and the IFA, where the increased percentages were negotiated and agreed in the context of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. [10831/02]
The EU Habitats Directive requires EU member states to designate special areas of conservation for a wide range of habitats and species, in accordance with scientific criteria specified in the directive. Early estimates of the amount of land to be designated were necessarily based on limited information available at the time, and did not fully take account of marine and freshwater areas. The figure of 14.1% referred to by the Deputy comprises approximately 9% land, including small freshwater areas, 1% large lakes and 4% marine areas.
