Section 43 deals with land drainage schemes and I will give a brief explanation of it. An earlier section of the Bill, section 12, imposes certain restrictions on other Government Departments, public bodies, and so on, whose activities might interfere with important wildlife areas which have been set up in various ways under the Bill. An exemption was given under the section for arterial drainage work carried out by the Commissioners of Public Works but, as I have indicated previously on section 12, this matter would be dealt with as a separate item under this section. The object of section 43 is to require the Commissioners of Public Works, when undertaking future drainage schemes, to take all practicable steps to safeguard nature reserves, refuges for fauna, and lands the subject of management agreements. Wetlands, for example, fens, callows, turloughs, saltmarshes, and so on, are important habitats of wildfowl and wading birds, including migratory species to this country. In the past some important wetlands in Ireland have unfortunately been destroyed as a result of drainage operations carried out without full regard to the ecological consequences. However, this type of problem, in the context of the conservation of the natural environment generally and of wetlands in particular, is by no means confined to Ireland.
The object of this section is to impose on the board of the Commissioners of Public Works the obligation to minimise damage to these valuable areas. However, this section does not intend to interfere to any serious extent with essential drainage schemes aimed at improving large tracts of land which might otherwise remain unproductive. It may be important, in some instances, to limit the scope of a scheme in relation to relatively small areas of vital significance for wildlife.
