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

The first amendment put forward by the Senators seeks to delete the words "as the Minister considers necessary" from the following passage:

The review conducted under paragraph (a) shall include designated blanket bog natural heritage areas and other blanket bog natural heritage areas as the Minister considers necessary.

The reason for the words "as the Minister considers necessary" is to ensure that the process of reviewing blanket bogs can be carried out without unnecessary obstacles. For instance, there are some blanket bog habitats that in a tiny area would not warrant inclusion in a wide national study. Therefore, this provision simply offers some flexibility and legal clarity so the review can be properly conducted. The clear intention would be to have a wide national review very much along the lines of what happened in respect of the raised bogs.

The second new counter-amendment proposes to delete subsection (6). I will not be accepting it for the following reason: the intention behind subsection (6) is to ensure that the 2014 raised bog review can proceed before there is a wide review of blanket bogs. Subsection (6) ensures that the 2014 review and the review of blanket bogs are treated separately.Essentially, it means that if an NHA is reviewed under the 2014 review, it cannot be reviewed under the blanket bog review. This is necessary in a limited number of cases in that there may be NHAs with both raised bogs and blanket bogs. This provision provides much better clarity as to which review applies to which NHAs. To remove subsection (6) would run the risk of further holding up the completion of the 2014 review.

For those reasons I am not accepting either amendment.