Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 378: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will make a commitment to ensuring the welfare of the Booterstown Nature Reserve, County Dublin, which has been delivered to a receiver; his plans on the importance of protecting areas of natural importance which may have been handed over to a receiver in view of the financial crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31311/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and associated Regulations, a planning authority, or An Bord Pleanála as appropriate, is required, when dealing with a planning application which was not accompanied by an environmental impact statement, to carry out a screening in appropriate cases for environmental impact assessment, under Council Directive 85/337/EEC (the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive), and to carry out an environmental impact assessment in cases where the proposed development would be likely to have significant effects on the environment. A planning authority or the Board is also required, when dealing with a planning application, to carry out a screening for appropriate assessment under Council Directive 92/43/EEC (the Habitats Directive), and to carry out an appropriate assessment where significant effects on a habitat cannot be ruled out. The planning authority or the Board may not grant permission for a proposed development which an appropriate assessment had determined would adversely affect a European site unless:

q there are imperative reasons of overriding public interest, and

q the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht considers that compensatory measures proposed are sufficient, and

q in the case of a priority habitat, the European Commission have been consulted.