Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions. I thank Senator Higgins for her work on this Bill. The amendments she put forward in the last Seanad have certainly helped to improve this legislation. I again acknowledge this point. She is probably watching these proceedings and I wish her all the best. She is on maternity leave and I congratulate her.

Regarding these proposed amendments, because there is a perception among NGOs and others that this legislation is going to give carte blancheto mass de-designation of blanket bog habitats, I assure the House it certainly will not and far from it. In his contribution, Senator Clonan mentioned the science. This is based on science and the scientific criteria will be the priority. What we are trying to do in the context of the Seanad amendments is to strike a fair balance, as far as possible, between the different amendments passed by this House and the different views expressed in them.

Amendment No. 4, as passed by a vote in the House, provided for an array of facilities to be included - Senator Kyne referred to them - and to be individually factored into the process of considering de-designation. These again include sporting facilities, golf courses or greenways.The Senator mentioned that cemeteries could be included. Amendment No. 3 was also carried by a vote of the House. It was a Government amendment made in response to issues raised earlier in the debate and it mentioned recreation and sporting needs. These provisions were debated at length in the Seanad and there was no clear consensus at the time. The Government's counter-amendment, amendment No 3c, which was passed in the Dáil, seeks to come up with a reasonable balance on this. As I said earlier, both the Seanad amendments were too prescriptive and could lead to unwarranted de-designations. With amendment No. 3c, we are trying to ensure that we have that balance without leading to unnecessary and unwarranted de-designations. If anything, it is an added level of protection for these important habitats.

There was a really important vote in the European Parliament yesterday on the nature restoration law, which will put all member states on a path towards developing nature restoration plans. Our peatlands will be critical to that. The reconfiguration of the raised bog natural heritage area network, which this legislation will facilitate, is based on sound scientific assessment. I give assurance that this will be a priority and will have a positive impact on the network. The Bill supports the peatland conservation restoration by protecting the highest nature value bogs. These are the sites that are of higher conservation value and less degraded, which can more realistically be restored and contribute to our national restoration targets. Doing so will also support Ireland's implementation of the habitats directive and environmental impact assessment, EIA, directive, which is a priority for the State. Senator Kyne pointed out that we will get a larger territorial area and perhaps larger State-owned sites which will contribute positively towards our restoration targets.

The amendments in this grouping seek to delete or to change much of amendment No. 3c. I appreciate where the Senators are coming from on this. However, we are respecting the decisions made in the previous Seanad, which the Dáil also supported last week. Amendment No. 3c seeks to reflect the wishes expressed and voted through at the time in a balanced way, while still ensuring adequate protection for nature. As I have said, amendment No. 3c is a compromise. It reflects the overall thrust of what was contained in Seanad amendments while still ensuring that the amendments stay true to the original objectives of the Bill. I believe it significantly improves the balance in favour of nature since the Bill was last approved by the Seanad. It would only be in very exceptional circumstances that any of the types of projects envisaged by the Senators could result in a designation being changed. Therefore, I am not in a position to accept the amendments to the amendment.