Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 327: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the plans he has to provide for national parks legislation in order to improve the regulatory framework for the designation, management and future development of national parks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31121/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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All of Ireland's six National Parks are managed as Category II National Parks under the criteria set out by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Under this Category, ownership and management should normally be by the highest competent authority of the State.

Accordingly, all National Parks in Ireland are fully owned and managed by the State. A large proportion of Killarney National Park is made up of the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park, which was gifted to the State in 1932 under the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park Act 1932. The other areas of Killarney National Park, together with Connemara, Glenveagh, Wicklow Mountains, the Burren and Ballycroy National Park, County Mayo are managed under the State Property Act, 1954. Most of the land in the National parks is also designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) under the EU Habitats Directive, 1992, which was transposed into Irish Law by the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997.

While I have no current proposals for National Parks legislation, I indicated in the Interim Review of the Implementation of the National Biodiversity Plan 2002-2006, that my Department is examining the legal basis for the National Parks and in this context will consider, inter alia, the need for specific National Parks legislation.