Ms Marian O'Driscoll:

On the implications for turf cutting, that falls into two distinct categories, that is, whether it is done within a Natura site or outside a Natura site. If it is within the Natura sites, that is a matter for the National Parks and Wildlife Service and this proposal will not affect that because it is only to do with the broader environmental impact.

This measure will not have any particular impact on turf cutting no more than it will have on any other project. The current position on turf cutting is that there is a mandatory threshold of 30 hectares for an environmental impact assessment and therefore for turf cutting in excess of 30 hectares an EIA must be carried out. Under that hectarage an environmental impact assessment should be carried out to determine if it would have a significant effect on the environment. We do not see those thresholds changing in any way but as we have explained, if this directive comes in it will have impacts on mandatory scoping and screening. Somebody applying to cut turf on a large site may have some extra bureaucracy to go through in the same way anybody else would, but other than that we do not see it having a major effect on turf cutting.

We are engaged in an exercise with Bord na Móna and various people because the Commission has asked us to establish the extent of large-scale industrial turf cutting throughout the country. We have been talking to Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Geological Survey of Ireland, GSI, and Bord na Móna with a view to doing some mapping in that area but we do not have any proposals for any particular changes in regard to turf cutting.