Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 February 2015
548. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if a process exists for de-designating existing special areas of conservation or natural heritage areas; if such de-designations have taken place here; the legislation under which such designations occurs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6870/15]
View answerSpecial Areas of Conservation are designated in accordance with the provisions of the EU Habitats Directive, which has been transposed into national law under the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011.
De-designation of a special area of conservation is provided for in Article 9 of the Habitats Directive. This article provides that this can only be done by the European Commission and only where it is justified by natural causes (e.g. a landslide, erosion or other natural factors) which have resulted in the loss of the habitat or species for which a site is designated.
Natural Heritage Areas are designated in accordance with the provisions of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000. The Act contains a provision for the de-designation of natural heritage areas where the site concerned no longer retains its scientific value. Prior to the de-designation of a natural heritage area the observations of various public authorities must be sought and landowners and holders of licences must be notified.
To date, no de-designation has taken place of either a special area of conservation or natural heritage area in Ireland.
The Review of Raised Bog Natural Heritage Area Network, published in January 2014, which is available to download from my Department’s website, provides detail on future arrangements regarding turf cutting on each of the 75 current raised bog natural heritage areas. The review has concluded that Ireland could more effectively achieve conservation of threatened raised bog habitat through focused protection and restoration of a reconfigured network. This will entail the phasing out of turf-cutting on certain natural heritage areas by 1 January 2017 and the partial or complete de-designation of certain natural heritage areas.
While most of the sites proposed for de-designation have been assessed as having some ecological value, they have not been included within the reconfigured natural heritage area network as their contribution to the attainment of the national conservation objective would be marginal or would be prohibitively expensive or would impose undue burden on the local community due to the number of active turf-cutters on these sites.
