Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of management plans which have been drawn up by his Department in respect of natural heritage areas and special areas of conservation since 2007; the number of management plans left to compete for all NHAs and SACs; the percentage of plans completed and the number left; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3826/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Individual site management plans are not a legal requirement under the EU Habitats Directive and the EU Natural Habitats Regulations, 1997; however, individual site conservation plans are an important instrument of conservation and in total, 140 such plans have been prepared, 21 of these since 2007. There are plans therefore for one third of the 423 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) in Ireland.

45 site conservation plans have gone through public consultation and are available on my Department's National Parks and Wildlife Service website at www.npws.ie. In addition, conservation planning information is available on request from my Department for any individual SAC.

To provide key information on SACs more quickly to interested parties, work is also underway on preparation of shorter documents, called conservation statements, for sites. Such statements will be available for 30 new sites by March 2009 and for a further 20 by the end of 2009.

Management plans have been published for the National Parks in Killarney and the Wicklow Mountains, the lands of which are largely included in SACs. Management plans for Glenveagh and Connemara National Parks will be published in 2009.

There are currently no conservation plans prepared for sites designated solely as Natural Heritage Areas.