Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
360. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the transparent procedures required by his Department to increase the appropriate assessment screening distance from 3km to 15km; the person or persons authorised to introduce this change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61028/21]
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 to identify those European Sites to be specifically addressed during screening. In decision making, 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.
There were a number of factors which prompted the Department to make the change in mid-2019. Appropriate assessment screening decisions would be vulnerable to challenge if my Department continued to consider at screening stage only those European Sites within 3km.
Practice in other land use sectors where appropriate assessment screening is required is also to provide for a 15km likely zone of impact.
Furthermore, results on individual cases heard by the FAC also indicated that the 3km radius was not appropriate. Every application for a forestry licence is assessed on a case-by-case basis, but also in combination with other plans and projects in the area.
The regulatory review currently under way as part of Project Woodland is considering the specific question of the 15km radius and this independent review will report in February 2022.
