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

The effect of this amendment would be to limit the provisions of the Bill to raised bog habitats only. The Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016, as initiated, has been amended in Dáil Éireann, following debate in committee. It provides for the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, at his or her discretion, to conduct a review or reviews of the blanket bog natural heritage area, NHA, network and to continue and complete the 2014 review of the raised bog natural heritage area network. The Bill gives the Minister the power to conduct the review at some point in the future without obliging the Minister to do so.

As I have previously emphasised, such a review of blanket bog natural heritage areas would not be done in a vacuum but would involve public consultation and would not necessarily lead to proposals for the dedesignation of blanket bog NHA sites. There are principles and criteria in the Bill to guide the Minister in conducting a review and in making a decision to carry out a strategic environmental assessment, a screening for an assessment or, as the case may be, an appropriate assessment in accordance with the Habitats Directive. If required in the public consultation, there will be a linking of the achievement of nature conservation objectives for bog habitats to the favourable consultation status of these habitats.

Section 18A(5) of the 2000 Act sets out that the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht cannot make an order to dedesignate an NHA, whether it be a raised bog site or a blanket bog site, without first having had regard to any environmental assessment undertaken, and observations and submissions received during the public consultation. As set out in the Bill, the heart of any review will be nature conservation, in terms of maintaining bog habitats at, or restoring bog habitats to, a favourable conservation status.Any review must also take cognisance of our EU nature conservation obligations. Therefore, unfortunately, I will not be accepting the amendment.