Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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350. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the facility in place, as administered by her, to alter the designation, on a quid pro quo basis, of hen harrier-type land, when the original designation is determined simply by a line on a map and does not take account of current and well established farming methods, allied to the fact whereby more obviously suitable land not currently designated adjoins, as this designation applies to participation in the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme as administered by the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9143/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am advised that the boundaries of the six SPAs designated for the conservation of the hen harrier were defined on foot of a scientific protocol to include lands that had proximity to known hen harrier breeding territories. Suitable habitat mainly included heath, bog, rough grassland and plantation forest of varying ages. I am further advised that it is not feasible to swap designations on adjacent lands as suggested.

My Department made available an extensive appeals process whereby landowners had the facility to object to their designation on scientific grounds. This resulted in some parcels of land to be removed from the SPA network where inspections showed they were of a type or condition (for example, improved agricultural land) that were not of significant conservation value for the SPA in question.

There has been some agricultural improvement of lands since the designations as such work was not a restricted activity in those areas.

Similar suitable habitat may exist in areas adjacent to the SPA designations but these lands were not included in the original advertised boundary as they were at some distance from known hen harrier breeding territories at that time.