Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

Níl ach triúr Teachtaí Dála as Gaillimh here agus tú féin, a Chathaoirligh, sa Chamber anois. It is with a certain reluctance that I raise this matter on the Adjournment. I had tried by various diplomatic means and telephone calls to resolve the problem but I seemed to be getting deeper into the problem rather than solving it. I am glad to see opposite the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, who may be able to assist.

I had contacted the Department about this and got a great deal of conflicting information. Last week I was told that this man's appeal against proposed designation of a quarry area in south Connemara was closed on 23 August last. That could not be possible because I have here a letter dated 23 August which the man received on 27 August, stating that in order to progress his request to have the lands removed from the SAC a scientific assessment of the lands in question must be carried out and, in another sentence nearer the end, asking him to confirm his agreement to an inspection by contacting the office by 4 September 2007.

The man replied to the Department by letter on 30 August 2007, stating that he would give Mr. O'Donnell and his assistant permission to enter his lands, but that he must be informed of when they would come. The man finally got a letter on 11 September acknowledging receipt of his letter of 30 August and stating that the issues he had raised were currently under consideration and the NPWS would write to him in due course. That would clearly indicate to me that the file could not have been closed on 23 August because there was ongoing correspondence between the NPWS and the land and quarry owner.

A letter received by the client in October 1997 stated that where restrictions arise compensation will be paid and wished to emphasis that a service is not anti-development, and that the service would not object to the man's proposals to renovate some existing house on his property — which he does not intend to do — and has no desire to interfere with the working of his quarry. That seems clear to me. As this quarry was pre-1963, its owner must have it registered under section 261. He fulfilled this requirement and has his quarry registered. It is No. 81 on the register in Galway County Council. A letter from Galway County Council to the land and quarry owner on 16 September 2007 stated that the planning authority deemed his quarry to be unauthorised solely on the basis that it was in an SAC.

It is clear to me that this should be an ongoing case. The owner of the quarry has made many efforts to have this matter resolved, including a meeting in the National Parks and Wildlife Service office in Letterfrack on 11 May last with Mr. O'Donnell, and the Minister would be familiar with that also. The man left that meeting thinking that the matter was resolved but here we are, six months later, and the matter is not resolved. I hope there can be a solution to this problem.

I want to pose a few questions that the Minister might be able to answer. Although it is not his brief, it was formerly his and he might be able to answer the questions anyway. Why was this man's quarry included in the SAC designation when it was not necessary to be protected by designation for any scientific or vegetation value included in the Wildlife Act? Why were all other quarries in Connemara either not included in, or taken out of, the SAC by virtue of the fact that they were operating quarries which were deemed to have no scientific value, and this quarry — from my knowledge of it — has certainly no scientific value?

When the National Parks and Wildlife Service sent proposals to Europe for designation of SACs, the reason given for not using CPOs on privately owned lands was there would be active consultation with individual landowners, compromise to be reached with landowners and compensation to be paid if the landowner was compromised.

The owner of this quarry and his family have suffered considerable stress and financial hardship as a result of this ongoing problem. There seems to be no solution to the problem of withdrawing this man's quarry from designation as a SAC so that he could continue to supply material to Galway County Council, as he had done prior to its being designated as an SAC. Ba mhaith liom freagra ar an gceist seo a fháil ón Aire ar son an fear as Ghaeltacht Conamara agus a chlann.

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