Mr. John Fitzgerald:

I thank the committee for its invitation and for the opportunity to make this presentation on behalf of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Our Department has not had any central involvement in the various issues surrounding the flooding in the Ballycar area or the various engineering solutions being considered over the years to alleviate this problem. While the Department does not have a decision-making role in the technical, funding, planning consents or environmental issues on any project that may emerge, should the committee wish, I am happy to outline, in so far as it may be helpful or relevant, how certain sites of nature conservation value are protected, the role of our Minister in nature conservation, as a prescribed body and also in environmental assessments.

As the committee will be aware, like all member states, Ireland is bound by the requirements of the EU nature directives. The Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive are the cornerstone of the EU’s nature conservation policy and establish the EU-wide Natura 2000 ecological network of protected areas. These directives aim to ensure the protection of habitats and species which have been selected for conservation within special areas of conservation and special protection areas. These directives have in turn been transposed into national law under the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, the Planning and Development Acts and the Wildlife Acts. In Ireland, there are some 439 sites selected for protection as special areas of conservation including Lough Gash turlough at Ballycar. There are 154 special protection areas and 148 areas designated as natural heritage areas.

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is the statutory authority for nature conservation in Ireland and also has a number of statutory functions, including that of a prescribed body or consultation body under various statutes, including the Planning and Development Acts.

As such, the Minister may provide observations and advice to relevant public authorities on the implications of the activities they are regulating, which may have an impact on the built or natural heritage. In this capacity, the Minister’s role is not a decision-making one but rather to provide observations that may assist a consent authority in its consideration of the implications of a proposal for the environment and in its own statutory decision making role. The Minister may also provide observations on the implications for the natural and built heritage of plans and programmes that public authorities may wish to undertake.

All public authorities, including the Minister, whose functions may affect nature conservation must exercise those functions in compliance with the habitats directive and the birds directive. In that regard, public authorities are obliged to ensure that they do not undertake or adopt, or give consent to any party for, any plan or project that may adversely affect the integrity of a European site. This is achieved through the appropriate assessment provisions set out in Article 6 of the habitats directive. These provisions require that a screening for appropriate assessment of a plan or project for which an application for consent is received, or which a public authority wishes to undertake or adopt, must be carried out by the public authority. The purpose of this screening exercise is to assess, in view of best scientific knowledge, if that plan or project is likely to have a significant effect on the conservation objectives of a European site. If, following an appropriate assessment screening exercise, it cannot be excluded that the plan or project will not have a significant effect on a European site, this does not mean that the project or plan cannot go ahead. Instead, the public authority concerned then undertakes an appropriate assessment before deciding if consent may be granted for the plan or project. Having carried out an appropriate assessment, a public authority can grant consent for a plan or project where it determines that it will not adversely affect the integrity of a European site.

As regards Ballycar Lough catchment, the Department understands that Iarnród Éireann commissioned RPS Group in 2010 to carry out a flood risk assessment of the Ballycar catchment and to undertake an assessment of flood alleviation options for Ballycar Lough. RPS Group issued its report in 2011. At the time, RPS Group consulted various bodies and stakeholders, including our Department. Following this assessment and a review of the potential implications of the various options identified, the consultants put forward a preferred option for a variety of reasons. RPS Group then carried out an appropriate assessment screening on that preferred option, identified in its report as Option 1C. This option involved the construction of a pipe culvert along the underground section of the Ballycar Lough outflow channel.

The appropriate assessment screening report examined the impacts of the preferred option in terms of its potential impacts on the Natura 2000 sites in the area. Lough Gash turlough special area of conservation lies within the study area and some other European sites also lie adjacent to or within a 5 km distance of the study area, and these Natura 2000 sites are the focus of the consultants' appropriate assessment screening report. The report concluded that as the full scale and magnitude of potential impacts on Lough Gash turlough special area of conservation were, at the time, still to be determined and due to the sensitivity and importance of this Natura 2000 site, an appropriate assessment should be carried out regarding the preferred flood alleviation works.

We note that in its 2011 main report for Iarnród Éireann RPS Group had outlined what it saw as the next steps to progress the project. These steps included consultations with stakeholders, including the NPWS of our Department, public consultation and an information day, preliminary design of works, carrying out of an appropriate assessment and obtaining the necessary consents and planning approvals. We in the NPWS are not aware of any initiatives or steps taken since the 2011 report was published; certainly, we have not been contacted since on the project and are not aware of any planning approvals being sought. In the last couple of days, in the context of documents being made available for the meeting of this committee, it became apparent to us that the 2011 RPS Group report has been followed by a 2015 report. The Department had not received or previously been made aware of this report but on request yesterday it was made available to us yesterday evening.

The Department fully appreciates the importance of this issue in this part of rural Ireland, as it appreciates the need to deal with flooding more generally around the country. The Department, including through the NPWS, is more than willing to work with the proponents of any project in a constructive fashion on this matter, for example, with regard to the scope of any further assessments that may be required for any flood alleviation works that may be pursued.

I thank the members of the committee for their attention and I will try to answer any questions that may arise.