Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe:

As regards the European Court of Justice judgment, there were two processes involved. The court's decision concerned the environmental impact assessment directive. At a late stage in trying to find solutions to enable Ireland to give an adequate response to the court's judgment the natural heritage area issue was brought in. It was a long time ago and I am not sure if many of the people who were involved directly in the negotiations are still working with us. It ultimately led to the designation of 75 NHAs around the country. They are the only statutorily protected NHAs. In the meantime, since 2006, we have had a string of pilot cases at the pre-infringement level with the Commission about the pearl mussel in various parts of the country. They stretch from County Donegal to County Kerry and to the east.