A key element of the National Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation Management Plan 2017-2022 is to maintain active raised bog habitat and restore degraded raised bog habitat to active raised bog habitat. The national restoration programme for Ireland’s raised bog special areas of conservation and natural heritage areas is contained within this Plan. It was intended to restore all designated raised bogs within 3 cycles, with the first cycle operating for the duration of the Management Plan.
This programme is being accelerated due to the announcement in Budget 2020 of €5m from the Carbon Tax Fund for peatlands restoration. This funding will allow for restoration measures to be undertaken on approximately 1,800 hectares on up to 9 raised bog designated sites across 7 counties in 2020 and the installation of an Eddy Covariance Flux tower on a representative bog to directly observe the exchanges of gas, energy, and momentum between the ecosystem and the atmosphere. The flux tower will directly measure the carbon, water, and heat flows between plant communities and the atmosphere.
The restoration measures on Ireland's protected raised bogs are among the peatland actions in the Climate Action Plan 2019 and also support the Just Transition process in the midlands region.
Unlike with peat extraction, such as on areas of more than 30 hectares, to which the High Court judgement of September 2019 referred to by the Deputy relates, restoration measures on raised bogs involve the insertion of dams on certain areas of the bog to block surface water drains and restore more natural physical conditions, thus rewetting the bog and raising water levels close to the bog surface to restore peat forming conditions. The aim is to raise the water table so that it remains within 10cm of the surface to encourage the growth of sphagnum moss. Restoration measures may also include tree felling and scrub clearance.
I am advised that peatland restoration measures being undertaken as part of the Department’s 2020 programme are directly connected with and necessary for the management of special area of conservation raised bog sites and as such an appropriate assessment is not required to be undertaken in advance of these measures being undertake on a particular site. Therefore, there is no requirement generally to seek planning permission on this basis. However, prior to the commencement of restoration measures on each protected raised bog site, any necessary environmental screening and assessment will be undertaken.
Amenity development proposals at these sites may require planning permission and will be progressed as necessary.
