Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 7 Mar 2002

Vol. 550 No. 2

Written Answers. - Special Areas of Conservation.

Gerry Reynolds

Ceist:

456 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the progress in preparing management plans for special areas of conservation and special protection areas; the public consultation process in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8225/02]

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

The Deputy will be aware that I view the conservation management plans for special areas of conservation and special protected areas for birds, and the public consultation process in particular, as a central part of the system for informing the public and for maintaining the favourable conservation status of these sites in the long-term.

Conservation management plans will not be finalised until after public consultations with landowners and all interested parties are completed. The objective of undertaking this process is to maximise the effectiveness of the plans and to ensure their full implementation.

As at March 2002 there are 243 SAC plans and 98 SPA plans at various stages of completion. There is some overlap between the two as some SPAs are contained within SACs. Out of a total of 341 plans, 296 draft plans have reached the stage of being ready to progress to public consultation. Public consultation is already under way in the case of 24 of these plans.

Initial public consultation is with local liaison committees representing landowners and users. When their views have been received a further draft is prepared which will be put on public dis play for comments and observations from all interested parties. After public comments have been received a final version of the plan will be prepared and adopted.

The following documents the progress of conservation management plan preparation for the SACs and SPAs involved.

The methodology for preparation of management plans for SAC and SPA sites in Ireland was designed to include the following drafting phases: in progress means a contract is in place and work on the initial draft has commenced; Draft 0 – initial draft, work in progress; Draft 1 – version approved by Dúchas field staff; Draft 2 – version prepared following a meeting of the Dúchas plan review group, incorporating the views of Dúchas expert staff. This is the draft for public consultation and multiple copies are produced, bound with standardised covers for distribution and display to interested parties such as liaison committees and conservation organisations. Draft 3 – this is the version prepared following the completion of the public consultation process which will become the conservation management plan for the site in question for a five year period. Where appropriate aquaculture zones and national park management plans will be incorporated into these plans.