Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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539. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to confirm that the European Commission services opened infringement proceedings against the Republic of Ireland in February 2015 for not designating over 400 Sites of Community Interest as Special Areas of Conversation as soon as possible and within six years at most, for not having set site-specific detailed conservation objectives for over 300 sites, including several sites for fresh water pearl mussel, and for subsequently failing to adopt the necessary conservation measures which correspond to the ecological requirements of the natural habitat types in Annex I and the species in Annex ​II​ of the Habitats Directive. [22601/16]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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540. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the steps the Government has taken to address the proceedings taken against the Republic of Ireland in February 2015 for not designating more than 400 sites of community interest as Special Areas of Conversation as soon as possible and within six years at most, for not having set site-specific detailed conservation objectives for over 300 sites and for subsequently failing to adopt the necessary conservation measures which correspond to the ecological requirements of the natural habitat types in Annex I and the species in Annex ​II​ of the Habitats Directive. [22602/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 539 and 540 together.

Following the public advertising of the intention by Ireland to designate special areas of conservation, these sites were transmitted to, and subsequently adopted by, the European Commission as sites of community importance or European sites. Once adopted by the Commission, these sites are known as candidate special areas of conservation in Ireland. Legal protections, commensurate with those set out in the EU Habitats Directive, apply to the sites since initially proposed for designation and Ireland’s planning and environmental legislation takes the proposed designations into account. The additional technical steps to formal designation do not affect the legal protection of a site.

Ireland has 430 areas identified for designation as special areas of conservation. Most of these were proposed for designation between 1997 and 2005, with some more recent additions in the marine environment.

Under the Habitats Directive, formal designation must be completed within 6 years of a candidate special area of conservation being adopted by the European Commission. With the 6 year period passed for most of the sites in question, the Commission opened an infringement case against Ireland in February 2015. The case is understood to be a horizontal action with proceedings also issued against a number of other Member States.

A project has been put in place within my Department to oversee formal designation of all special areas of conservation. This has involved a significant amount of scientific work to ensure that boundaries of sites are cleared of appeals and finalised for designation, and updating the mapping format used to provide the most accurate and user friendly information to all parties, particularly landowners.

The final phase of formal designation involves the signing of a Statutory Instrument for each special area of conservation. That process began earlier this year and some 86 special areas of conservation have now been designated by Statutory Instrument. Work is continuing with the aim of formally designating all remaining special areas of conservation as early as possible.

While there is no explicit obligation under the Habitats Directive to develop site specific conservation objectives, these are being produced by my Department in order to define the conditions to be achieved by species and habitat types within the respective sites which will in turn maximize the contribution of the sites to achieving favourable conservation status at various levels. These site specific conservation objectives continue to be developed on a prioritised basis, with some 129 published to date in relation to special areas of conservation.

A strategy for the establishment and improved coordination and delivery of conservation measures at site level has been recently developed. A detailed structure and enhanced programme of work will be put in place with the aim of developing and implementing conservation measures. This will be a significant programme of work, but one that has the potential to ensure the protection and restoration of species and habitats. In the longer-term, there are significant economic benefits to be realised through the effective management and restoration of special areas of conservation and the subsequent benefits to issues such as climate change mitigation, flood risk management, water quality and pollination.