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

I understand this amendment seeks to exclude special a1reas of conservation, SACs, from the definition of "bog habitat" in the Bill. 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 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 and special areas of conservation that contain bog, so that these sites may be taken into account in any future review, as has already been done for the 2014 NHA raised bog review.

I would like to take this opportunity to stress there is no provision in the Bill which provides for the de-designation of SACs, and I agree they have a special and higher level of importance. Any such proposal would have to come within the provisions of the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, which require the agreement of the European Commission and would have to be in accordance with the habitats directive.I will not, therefore, accept the amendment.