Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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616. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the development of a site; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9605/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The site referred to by the Deputy forms part of a Special Protection Area (SPA) and a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC). Drainage of the outflow channel from the site is maintained by the local authority in order to avoid flooding of a road, farm properties and agricultural lands. While it is an objective of the SPA to achieve favourable conservation condition of the wetland in question, my Department has no immediate plans to restore the site to the condition that it was in in the 1970s. Substantial environmental changes have occurred since then. High nutrient levels in the lake in the past may have also attracted waterfowl previously, and grazing has also been relaxed, leading to substantial changes in the vegetation cover.

My Department will consider management options in light of resource availability at a future stage.