Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Nonetheless, the Bill does provide for and set out a route for the de-designation of NHAs, which are blanket bogs. Special SACs are protected under European law. It is not an option for us to de-designate them, so we cannot make too much of a virtue of the fact that we are not doing so. The fact is that there are provisions in this Bill, for example, in section 8(b) relating to blanket bogs and the environmental criteria which are there, whereby a comparison between blanket bogs is in itself considered sufficient for de-designation.

In respect to my colleague, Senator Grace O'Sullivan, who I know feels very strongly about this issue, I am going to withdraw the amendment and reintroduce it on Report Stage because I know she wishes to engage with the Minister of State on blanket bogs. I will not press the amendment at this point because I hope the Minister of State will engage with the Senator, either in between Stages or during the next Stage, to consider making this Bill narrower in its focus and therefore more related to previous research which, as the Minister of State himself described, considered, looked at, and examined a large number of specific raised bogs in the early part of development of this legislation, as opposed to blanket bogs, which fall into a whole other category of environment that has been included without the same kind of detailed work.