Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps that have been taken in response to the recent findings of the report compiled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland, that found that since the transposing of the European Union Habitats Directive over a decade ago the condition of many protected habitats have deteriorated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20797/08]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken to ensure to provide more resources to the relevant authorities to address the poor and bad status of over 90% of protected habitats as found by the report compiled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20798/08]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 137: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the report, The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland, compiled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service that found that of 59 protected habitats only 4% or 7% had good status overall with the remainder either poor or bad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20795/08]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken to address the threat to a number of protected species, including the freshwater pearl mussel, otter, hare and Atlantic salmon, that was identified in the report compiled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Wildlife Species in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20796/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115, 126, 137 and 139 together.

My Department's Report on the Status of Habitats and Species in Ireland is the first comprehensive compilation of the status of those habitats, animals and plants in Ireland which have protected status under national and EU law. The Report highlights the pressures and threats that habitats and species face in Ireland including through peat cutting, overgrazing and undergrazing, pollution, unsustainable exploitation, and from alien species and recreational pressure.

The Report is important and highlights many substantial and difficult challenges. The critical issue in the next few years will be the need to maintain and restore habitats, especially in Special Areas of Conservation, and to monitor and report on changes achieved. Ireland is currently moving from a phase of designation to one of more targeted management and protection. This requires the involvement of land owners, Government Departments, planning authorities and licensing agencies, and my Department is carrying out substantial work with the relevant groups to improve the situation. The Programme for Government 2007-2012 includes a commitment to strengthen Ireland's implementation of the Habitats Directive and I have secured greatly increased funding for my Department's National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2008.

The report was compiled according to a strict template provided by the European Commission. The template required that any deterioration in status in recent times should receive an assessment of "poor"; and any significant deterioration an assessment of "bad". For a habitat or species to achieve good status, there must be evidence that it is being maintained or is improving, and it must have good prospects in the future. The results outlined in the report reflect the position that many of these habitats and species were already considered threatened, that Ireland has seen substantial economic growth and agricultural intensification, and that the assessments cover all the habitat or species range, both inside and, critically, outside protected areas.

There are already significant policies and work programmes in place which will address the conclusions in the Report. These include the designation of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives, respectively; continued enforcement of the Habitats Regulations to protect SACs and SPAs; the Single Farm Payment scheme which removes incentives for overgrazing, the Commonage Framework Plans which assessed appropriate grazing levels on commonages; implementation of the Water Framework Directive; the Water Services Investment Programme; and the ban on drift netting of salmon.

In relation to the freshwater pearl mussel, 19 sites have been designated as SACs for this species and these sites contain about 85% of the known populations of the mussel. The Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food earlier in 2008 published a document on requirements for forestry management in the catchments of pearl mussel rivers. In addition, I will be making Regulations later this year on water quality objectives for freshwater pearl mussel rivers. Given the extreme threat to this species, my Department is also funding a programme of captive breeding in several locations.

A number of significant steps have been taken in recent years to secure the long term future of the otter in Ireland. 44 SACs have been designated for the otter of which most are large sites incorporating extensive river, lake or coastal systems. My Department has also liaised closely with the National Roads Authority to prepare strict guidance for the protection of otters during the planning and construction of national roads. Furthermore, considerable efforts are being made under the Water Framework Directive and the Water Services Investment Programme, to improve water quality nationally. Significant progress has been made in recent years to eliminate water pollution from non-domestic and domestic sources and progress is also underway in this regard within the agricultural and forestry sectors. A Species Action Plan has also been recently published by my Department for the otter which outlines the conservation actions that are needed to secure the future of the otter throughout Ireland over the coming five years.

In relation to the hare, my Department conducted the first national hare survey of Ireland in 2006 and 2007. The survey showed that the Irish hare is widespread, occurring throughout the entire country. However, population densities for Irish hare were found to be highly variable and it seems that populations can rapidly increase and decrease in a short space of time.

My Department has also published, together with the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland, an all Ireland Species Action Plan for the Irish hare. This plan identifies actions to be delivered in areas such as policy and legislation, site safeguard and management and research and monitoring. Implementation of the actions identified is ongoing. While the recent survey estimates suggest that the population is healthy, the hare was assessed as "poor" in this report due to habitat loss through agricultural intensification and the expansion of towns and cities into formerly rural areas. Measures in relation to the Atlantic salmon include the ban on drift netting of salmon.