Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 517: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the status of the draft conservation plans for special areas of conservation and special protection areas; and the position regarding the public consultation process to date in 2007. [27460/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Conservation Management Plans have been completed for 45 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and 4 Special Protection Areas (SPAs). Most of these plans are posted on the website of my Department's National Parks and Wildlife Service, www.npws.ie. I envisage that a further 56 SAC plans will be the subject of public consultation before the end of this year. Draft plans for another 94 sites are currently in preparation.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 518: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his future plans for the compensation agreed under the special areas of conservation and special protection areas with landowners. [27461/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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My Department operates a range of schemes to pay landowners and farmers for direct losses incurred through restrictions caused by designation of land for natural heritage reasons or to pay for certain agreed actions benefiting nature.

My Department's five year Farm Plan Scheme, operated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). is available to farmers/ landowners who are not in the Department of Agriculture's Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS) and who receive separate compensation under that scheme. The NPWS scheme can be beneficial to those whom REPS does not suit for any reason. My Department will shortly be notifying relevant landowners of the designations for protection of the hen harrier. Additional compensation, at a rate agreed with farming representative organisations, is available to farmers whose land includes habitats of threatened species and who agree to follow the scientific prescriptions for farming in an environmentally friendly way to preserve these habitats through the farm plan scheme. Compensation payments are also available from my Department to farmers, based on stocking levels contained in the Commonage Framework Plans that were drawn up for commonage land and came into effect on 1 January 2003.

As regards conservation of bogs, my Department continues to purchase, on a voluntary basis, the freehold or turbary rights in raised bog SACs. Turf cutting in most of these SACs is due to end in 2008.