Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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163. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the steps she is taking to protect the environmentally fragile heathlands of the Howth peninsula, County Dublin; and if she will ensure the retention of this amenity for future generations of residents and visitors to Howth. [16884/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Natura 2000 is the centrepiece of EU nature and biodiversity policy. It is an EU-wide network of nature protection areas established under the 1992 Habitats Directive. The aim of the network is to assure the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. It is comprised of special areas of conservation (also referred to as sites of community importance in the EU context) designated by Member States under the Habitats Directive and special protection areas which are designated under the 1979 Birds Directive. The establishment of this network of protected areas also fulfils a Community obligation under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

Following the public advertising of the intention by Ireland to designate 429 special areas of conservation, those sites were transmitted to, and subsequently adopted by, the European Commission as sites of community importance or European sites. Legal protections, consummate with those set out in the Habitats Directive, have applied to the sites since initially proposed for designation and Ireland’s planning and environmental legislation has operated under these designations.

There are two Natura 2000 designations on Howth Head – the Howth Head special area of conservation and the Howth Head Coast special protection area.

Howth Head was initially proposed for designation as a special area of conservation in July 1999 with the specific intention to protect and preserve the selected habitats of dry heath and vegetated sea cliffs that are particular to this location. The site is also of scientific importance for its seabird colonies, invertebrates and lichens. It also supports populations of at least two legally protected plant species and several other scarce plants.

Howth Head Coast was initially proposed for designation as a special protection area in May 2008 and is of high ornithological importance, as it supports a nationally important population of Kittiwake. It is also a traditional nesting site for Peregrine Falcon, a species that is listed in Annex I of the Birds Directive. It has been formally designated as a special protection area by Statutory Instrument since 2012 (S.I. 185/12).

The protections under the Birds and Habitats Directives ensure that no plan or project undertaken in the area or vicinity of any special area of conservation or special protection area can be commenced without prior consultation with my Department and an appropriate assessment of the likely impacts on the habitats and species protected by the designations.