Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 4, lines 9 and 10, after "having regard to" to insert “all of the matters referred to in section 16(6),".

I will not labour the point in respect of these amendments. They cover very much the ground we have spoken about previously. Although the Minister of State has addressed many of the specific environmental issues, and I thank him for his engagement on that, the specific issue of an openness to considering section 16(6) of the 2000 Act and the scientific factors set out in respect of the environment and merely updating them is one issue and the other issue is that amendment No. 6 specifically seeks to ensure that those same scientific factors would be considered regarding dedesignation as well as designation, a point I outlined previously.

Amendment No. 20 is consistent in that respect. It is an attempt to address the problem with the environmental criteria, which we discussed previously. There are different factors - habitat, structure and function. The Minister of State is correct in that it is the same provision in respect of raised bogs and blanket bogs in that regard but, again, the problem is that the environmental criteria are simply a comparison between those factors in one bog and in another bog, rather than a consideration of the scientific and environmental factors on their own terms. It almost sets up a weakest link approach in the sense of which will we go for? Part of that process is to indicate which are most suitable or not suitable for dedesignation but they are not environmental criteria; they are, effectively, pragmatic criteria. Environmental criteria need to include the same scientific objectives, environmental facts and points of research, data and reference set out in section 16(6) of 2000 Act. This is the same point but it is particularly pertinent in respect of amendment No. 20 of the section. If the Minister of State is not able to accept the proposed change to one area of the section, he might consider accepting amendment No. 20.