Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 May 2013
192. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of notifications of site designations under the habitats directive that were issued; the number of landowners that received individual notice of such designation; the policy and procedure for the sending of such notification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23444/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 1997, before the commencement of the designation process for Ireland’s network of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) under the Habitats Directive, my Department as then configured undertook an information campaign which involved issuing letters to some 230,000 rural households advising people in general terms of the forthcoming programme and where they could obtain further information of the proposed designations.
Notification by successive Ministers of their intention to designate individual sites was undertaken in accordance with the procedures and requirements laid down in the transposing regulations, the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997, which have now been replaced by the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011.
Information on the number of individual notifications issued to individuals for all 429 sites nominated for designation as SACs under the Habitats Directive over the past 16 years is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work.
However, in relation to the 53 raised bog Special Areas of Conservation, I can advise that some 1,457 letters and site specific information packs were issued to individuals identified as being potentially affected by the proposed designations of those SACs nominated between 1997 and 1999. A further 3,534 letters and site-packs were issued to persons potentially affected by the proposed designations in 2002 of the remaining raised bog sites. These letters included maps of the sites, as well as details of restrictions to activities therein, compensation provisions, and the manner in which an objection might be made to the proposed designation.
My Department sources its information for issuing letters from a number of sources, including the Property Registration Authority, the Land Commission (now Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine), the Land Parcel Identification System used by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the electoral register.
It should be noted that the development of the Land Direct system by the Property Registration Authority in recent years has allowed much more comprehensive land-owner identification. This has improved the Department’s ability to reach as many interested parties as possible. While every reasonable step has been taken over the years to identify landowners and notify them directly, it is not possible to guarantee that all such persons can be identified. It is commonplace, particularly in bogs, that individuals’ interests are not registered at all, or not in their own names. Turbary rights, in particular, are not always up to date or accurately reflect actual land use activity.
For this reason, and in accordance with the Regulations referred to above, copies of maps of proposed SACs and copies of the Government Notices relating to those sites are also displayed in public access points such as Garda Síochána stations, local authority offices, local offices of the Department of Social Protection, local offices of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and offices of Teagasc located within or near the sites concerned. Proposals to designate sites as SACs are also advertised in the appropriate local newspapers with radio advertisements being run on local stations. A free-phone number is also operated to facilitate the dissemination of information to those who are alerted through these publicity measures.
