Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe:

In regard to the de-designation of NHAs, the NHAs for bogs were designated on foot of a case taken by the European Court of Justice against Ireland under the environment impact assessment, EIA, directive. Many years ago the solution included the designation by Ireland of some NHAs, thereby increasing the amount of protected bog, and undoing that solution would have to be approached carefully.

The Deputy asked about the prevalence of the pearl mussel. It is present in 100 rivers in Ireland. It has not reproduced successfully enough to maintain its number here. In other words, the pearl mussel population is in decline in every river, including in the SACs. If I recall correctly, a total of 27 rivers within SACs have pearl mussels and are listed as having pearl mussels. Our focus has been on trying to do our best for the top eight rivers where there is some chance of them starting to increase in number again. The Owenriff river is one of those rivers. It is still one of the best eight rivers in the country.