Mr. Brian Lucas:

The national restoration programme for raised bogs is for both the SACs and the NHAs. As stated earlier, we have 53 raised bog SACs and 75 raised bog NHAs. There is a proposal to reconfigure the NHA network arising from a 2014 review. The Bill to give effect to that, the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016, is going through the Oireachtas at present. The proposal is that we would keep 36 of the current raised bog NHAs, including parts of seven sites, and there is provision for the de-designation of 46 NHAs, including parts of seven sites. These are ones which have little or no restoration potential. It is also proposed to propose 25 new sites for designation as NHAs. The restoration programme is for both the raised bog special areas of conservation and natural heritage areas.

Deputy Stanley asked what the difference is. The main difference is that the special areas of conservation are designated under the habitats directive, which is transposed into national law under the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, whereas the natural heritage areas are designated under national law, the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000.

However, both designations are part of the national conservation target area for raised bog that has been set. The NHA has contributed to that target. Even though they are designated under national law, they are part of Ireland's overall target to maintain or restore raised bogs. As I said, the framing for this has been set out in the national raised bog special areas of conservation management plan, published in December 2017. The name causes a bit of confusion but it covers the NHAs as well as the SACs. Previously, until the budget announcement of €5 million, the intention had been to restore all the designated raised bog sites within three cycles, with the first cycle operating for the duration of the management plan. Now that we have the extra funding in the budget, we will see if we can accelerate that programme's timeframe. I have already gone through the programme and where the funding will go. I will not go into the detail of this but, as I said, we are already providing funding. We started with the living bog project, which is a €5.4 million EU LIFE project, to which the Department is contributing €1.352 million plus the restoration work on State-owned lands. As far as the Department and the National Parks and Wildlife Service are concerned, bog restoration has been ongoing for a long time but we did a major study on Ireland's raised bog resource in 2013. From that we have developed a new restoration programme. We have restoration plans for all the raised bog special areas of conservation. We are also developing those plans for the raised bog NHAs.

Deputy Stanley also asked about co-ordination between Departments. When I listed the Departments and agencies on the peatlands strategy implementation group earlier, I missed one or two of them. I was speaking from memory. As well as those I mentioned, we have the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Office of Public Works, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bord na Móna and Coillte. In the past year, since the publication of the Government's climate action plan in June, I have found there has been a focus in what the Department is doing on raised bog restoration. This links into the peatlands action in the climate action plan. There is a comprehensive structure in place in reporting that. So far, in my experience, it has worked very well and it has helped co-ordination. In the Department we report to the climate action delivery board, which, as far as I know, is chaired by the Secretaries General of the Departments of the Taoiseach, and Communications, Climate Action and Environment. We report on our progress and the restoration programme to the climate action delivery board. Our Secretary General is represented on the board and, as I said, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is on it as well. That system is working very well. The focus of our Department is on the designated sites. As I said, we have 53 raised bog SACs and 75 raised bog NHAs, and the restoration of those, as well as addressing the needs of turf cutters, is a big programme of work for us.

I am not too sure if I missed anything.