Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 25 Nov 1998

Vol. 497 No. 3

Written Answers - Designated Areas.

John Gormley

Ceist:

33 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the progress, if any, being made by her Department particularly on the issues surrounding the final designation of national heritage areas and special areas of conservation as required under various EU directives; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24370/98]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera):

Proposed natural heritage areas are those areas identified by Dú chas, the heritage service of my Department, as having a special wildlife interest of importance from the national perspective. I will include powers to designate such areas in the forthcoming amendment to the Wildlife Act, 1976.

The position in relation to the designation of special areas of conservation, SACs, is more complex in that the EU Habitats Directive sets out a procedure for the designation of such sites. The directive requires that member states propose a list of sites of community interest and transmit this list to the EU. Then in consultation with the member states, the EU Commission will establish a committee consisting of representatives of the member states which will examine the proposed list to see whether it meets the requirements of the directive.

As part of the process the Commission has decided to hold biogeographical conferences at which the lists will be examined and where invited experts and non-Governmental organisations may suggest additions to or deletions from these lists. Finally the Commission will adopt a list and then the member state will be required to formally designate the sites. The Biogeographical Conference for the Atlantic Region, in which Ireland is located, is being tentatively arranged for September 1999.

My Department has published 207 proposed candidate SACs to date and has formally transmitted 48 of these to the EU Commission. An additional ten sites will be transmitted in the next few weeks. Further sites will be transmitted as the objections to the inclusion of private lands in them are dealt with by the advisory appeals board, which I have established.