Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 May 2021
694. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the area within which forestry licences must be screened for appropriate assessment has been increased to 15km from 3km; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25596/21]
View answerThe Habitats Directive and the transposing legislation SI 477 of 2011 require, inter alia, that an appropriate assessment is undertaken where screening identifies a likelihood of the project having a significant effect on a European site(s). This is true regardless of the separation distance between the project and the European site(s).
A likely zone of impact is used in order to identify those European Sites to be specifically addressed during screening. In making a decision regarding the likelihood of a project having a significant effect on a European Site(s), all European Sites within a certain radius (or ‘likely zone of impact’) should be considered at screening stage, in addition to hydrologically-connected European Sites. For example, in relation to a Special Protection Area, it is important to consider whether the project area lies within the foraging distance of bird species for which that SPA was designated, and many of these foraging distances exceed 3km.
This was one of the reasons why 3km was not deemed appropriate. There were a number of factors influencing the Department's change to the radius of 15km, including advice from our environmental consultants, judgements form the Forestry Appeals Committee, guidance provided by the National Parks & Wildlife Service and established sector from other sectors.
