Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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548. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if a process exists for de-designating existing special areas of conservation or natural heritage areas; if such de-designations have taken place here; the legislation under which such designations occurs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6870/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Special Areas of Conservation are designated in accordance with the provisions of the EU Habitats Directive, which has been transposed into national law under the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011.

De-designation of a special area of conservation is provided for in Article 9 of the Habitats Directive. This article provides that this can only be done by the European Commission and only where it is justified by natural causes (e.g. a landslide, erosion or other natural factors) which have resulted in the loss of the habitat or species for which a site is designated.

Natural Heritage Areas are designated in accordance with the provisions of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000. The Act contains a provision for the de-designation of natural heritage areas where the site concerned no longer retains its scientific value. Prior to the de-designation of a natural heritage area the observations of various public authorities must be sought and landowners and holders of licences must be notified.

To date, no de-designation has taken place of either a special area of conservation or natural heritage area in Ireland.

The Review of Raised Bog Natural Heritage Area Network, published in January 2014, which is available to download from my Department’s website, provides detail on future arrangements regarding turf cutting on each of the 75 current raised bog natural heritage areas. The reviewhas concluded that Ireland could more effectively achieve conservation of threatened raised bog habitat through focused protection and restoration of a reconfigured network. This will entail the phasing out of turf-cutting on certain natural heritage areas by 1 January 2017 and the partial or complete de-designation of certain natural heritage areas.

While most of the sites proposed for de-designation have been assessed as having some ecological value, they have not been included within the reconfigured natural heritage area network as their contribution to the attainment of the national conservation objective would be marginal or would be prohibitively expensive or would impose undue burden on the local community due to the number of active turf-cutters on these sites.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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549. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of bog owners affected by special area of conservation designation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6962/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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At the time of the initial designation process for Ireland’s network of special areas of conservation, my Department sourced its land-ownership information from a number of sources, including the Property Registration Authority, the then Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (as successor to the Irish Land Commission), the Land Parcel Identification System used by that Department and the electoral register.

While I understand that every reasonable step was taken over the years to identify landowners and notify them directly of the proposed designation of sites, it is not possible to guarantee that all such persons had been identified. It is commonplace, particularly in the case of bogs, that individuals’ interests in land are not registered at all, or not in their own names. Turbary rights, in particular, are not always up to date or do not always accurately reflect actual land use activity.

The development of the land direct system by the Property Registration Authority in recent years has allowed much more comprehensive land-owner identification. This has improved my Department’s ability to reach as many interested parties as possible. For example, my Department issued letters to some 6,700 identified landowners and users in 2011, advising them of the cessation of turf cutting on the 53 raised bog special areas of conservation and of the availability of compensation under the cessation of turf cutting compensation scheme.