Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It baffles me that the Minister of State would even consider issuing mining licences in an area such as the Maam Valley and Cornamona area. It is contiguous with Lough Corrib. Much of the land around, including the full lake, comprises special areas of conservation, SACs. Reading the literature, it is hard to see how mining is compatible with the preservation of the incredibly sensitive ecology of the area. Why is there not a policy similar to ones the Government has for the national parks and for Croagh Patrick, which state that in areas designated as SACs, special protection areas, SPAs, or natural heritage areas, NHAs, no new mining will be allowed in the future? Would that not be a much more honest way of dealing with the issue, not only for mining companies, which would not waste their money searching for minerals that they could never mine, but also for local communities, which have had the burden of these designations and should at least be sure, having lived and preserved the designations in the area, that they would be the beneficiaries of nothing being allowed that would damage these very important ecological areas?

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