Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Hoctor, and I am glad the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Browne, is still in the House. I am sorry the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, is not here to respond personally to what I regard as one of the most important issues I have raised on behalf of my constituency since I became a Member of this House 21 years ago.

On 13 December 2007, the European Court of Justice gave a judgment in a case taken by the Commission against Ireland under the birds directive. Among the findings in this judgment, which I read, was that we have an inadequate number and size of areas classified as special protection areas, contrary to Articles 4.1 and 4.2 of the birds directive. I read not only the legal judgment but the recitals of all the ongoing dialogue and the legal exchanges between Ireland and the European Commission since 1998.

In a panicked response to this judgment, the Government has begun a process of designating new areas. Last week, I spoke to the assistant director of the national parks and wildlife service. He told me areas such as Dublin Bay, Galway Bay and Cork Harbour are being examined. I wish the Government had started there because when the extent of what is proposed is seen it will cause such an outcry that it must be changed. The proposed designation of Wexford Harbour up to Enniscorthy, the home town of the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, is quite scandalous, taking in a huge swathe of south County Wexford.

No one has any difficulty with protecting bird species; we are all at one on the need to do this. The extent, however, of the designation laid out in the proposals under the directive will be to ruin Wexford. In the words of a senior public official in Wexford yesterday, it is the erection of an economic barrier around the town.

I will remind the Minister of State the activities that will require ministerial consent under this proposal. Among them is the harvesting of marine species, unless for personal use and not exceeding certain limits. This is in one of the most productive harvesting harbours in Ireland with a multi-million euro industry in mussel fisheries. Another activity is the construction or alteration of tracks, paths, roads, embankments, car parks or access routes. Among the areas designated as a bird sanctuary is the park-and-ride car park for Wexford town. Any activity that develops, operates or allows leisure or sporting facilities that might cause disturbance to the birds requires ministerial consent. Wexford Harbour is a leisure harbour attracting thousands of visitors. Any activity which destroys habitats means any building on the lands contiguous to Wexford will be banned. That also includes reclamation, infilling and dredging with the final, catch-all comment, "any other activity".

This proposal is wholly unacceptable and illogical and must be changed. As I speak, a public meeting in Wexford with 600 people attending is under way. That will be the thin end of the wedge of public reaction. This proposal puts in immediate jeopardy multi-million euro projects, including the expansion of the Wexford main drainage scheme to give a 45,000 population equivalent.

The Labour Party and others want the Lisbon treaty voted through in several months. However, this sort of cack-handed implementation of EU policy will destroy public confidence in the EU and public support for the Lisbon reform treaty. This must be addressed immediately. Otherwise, there will be a public outcry of resistance in Wexford to the economic sabotage to the future of our town.

I hope the Minister of State will bring to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government my strong feelings and those of the thousands in my county agitated by this proposal. I expect a speedy, sympathetic, realistic and logical response.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley.

EU member states are required under the birds directive to protect birds at their breeding, feeding, roosting and wintering areas. The directive was transposed by the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997, as amended in 1998 and 2005. These regulations enable the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to designate the most important conservation areas as special protection areas, SPAs, and to afford them legal protection.

The Department engaged in a nationwide roll-out of SPAs. The exercise included redesignation of SPA sites, some of which, like Wexford Harbour, were first designated ten years ago. This work is particularly required as part of Ireland's response to litigation being pursued by the European Commission under the birds directive. An adverse judgment delivered by the European Court of Justice against Ireland in December 2007 means we must press ahead with this programme.

On 16 December 2007, as part of the programme, the Department proposed three sites in County Wexford for designation as SPAs for wild birds — Lady's Island Lake, Ballyteigue Burrow and Wexford Harbour and Slobs. Details of the proposals to designate these sites were published in the regional press and local radio. While these are not new designations, the boundaries have been extended in some areas. Landowners and others identified by the Department's national parks and wildlife service, NPWS, as having land or holding rights or licences in SPAs were notified directly in writing. They were provided with a site map and description, list of activities that might damage the site, procedures for objecting to the designation proposal and details of compensation provisions. Objections on scientific grounds to these proposals may be submitted within three months from the date of their publication.

Wexford Harbour and Slobs SPA consists of the natural estuarine habitats of Wexford Harbour, the reclaimed polders known as the north and south Slobs and the tidal river component of the Slaney.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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That goes right up to Enniscorthy.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The seaward boundary extends from the Rosslare peninsula in the south to an area just west of Raven Point in the north. The SPA stretches upriver as far as Enniscorthy. Contrary to some allegations, the urban area of Wexford is not included in the area proposed for designation.

Wexford Harbour and Slobs is one of the top three sites in diversity of wintering birds and regularly supports well in excess of 20,000 water birds. The combination of estuarine habitats, include shallow waters for grebes, diving duck and seaduck, and the farmland of the polders, which include freshwater drainage channels, provides optimum feeding and roost areas for a wide range of species. It is one of the two most important sites in the world for the Greenland white-fronted goose.

To protect ecologically important sites, certain potentially harmful works are restricted within SPAs. These works, notifiable actions or operations requiring consent, are liable to destroy or significantly to alter, damage or interfere with the ecology of the site. They vary depending on the type of habitat present.

A landowner or land-user contemplating works that might harm a designated habitat is required to seek the consent of the Minister. In practice, the local NPWS conservation ranger will be able to provide advice to a landowner on what may or may not require consent.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Where stands the main drainage scheme?

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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Operations which require consent would include, for example, altering watercourses or wetlands, burning areas of vegetation, harvesting marine species, construction or alteration of tracks, paths, roads, embankments, car parks or access routes, dumping, burning or disposal of any materials, reclaiming land for agricultural purposes, planting of trees, reclamation or infilling, removal of soil, mud, sand, gravel, rock or minerals, etc.

The fair application of these protective measures would not have any serious economic consequence for the people of Wexford town. It is not envisaged that there would be a need to interfere with current levels of recreational use of the site.

The Government is committed to the payment of a fair and proper level of compensation to landowners and land-users who are at a financial loss as a result of the designation of a SPA. Lands within a SPA or a commonage constitute target areas under measure A, conservation of natural heritage of REPS, as operated by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Under that scheme generous top-up payments are available to those who have land in designated area.

Separate from REPS, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government runs a farm plan scheme which allows a landowner to seek compensation for actual losses or costs incurred due to restrictions placed on existing activities solely as a result of the inclusion of an area in a special protected area.

Any proposed large-scale development in the area would go through normal planning processes and be subject to appropriate assessment from an environmental perspective. However, the footprint of this SPA designation is on the water surface. Consequently, I do not envisage such development issues as being particularly problematic in this context.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I will show the Minister of State the map.