Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Bill takes into account that for the 2014 natural heritage area, NHA, raised bog review, more than 270 individual raised bogs were examined. The individual raised bogs examined comprised the 53 raised bog special areas of conservation, SACs, the existing 75 NHA raised bogs, and more than 100 non-designated sites. Hence, within the Bill the definition of bog habitat refers to the candidate SACs that contain bog so that those sites may be taken into account in any review, as has been done for the 2014 raised bog NHA review. There is no provision in the Bill to provide for the de-designation of special areas of conservation. SAC sites are proposed for designation and designated under the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011. I would envisage that the main task for any future review of blanket bog NHAs would be to assess how those sites could contribute to the national conservation objective of maintaining blanket bog habitat or restoring it to a favourable conservation status. Therefore, any consideration of blanket bog SACs would be in that context rather than with a view to the de-designation of blanket bog SACs. Accordingly, I will not accept the amendment.