Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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679. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of hectares in each county that are designated special areas of conservation, special protection areas and natural heritage areas by county in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48007/18]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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680. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the percentage of land designated as special areas of conservation, special protection areas and natural heritage areas by county in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48008/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 679 and 680 together.

Ireland is committed to the implementation of the EU Nature Directives. It has identified and protected 439 sites for designation or designated as special areas of conservation and 154 sites as special protection areas. In addition, 148 natural heritage areas have been designated under the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table:

Land may be within more than one designated area category - this has been taken in to account in the Terrestrial SAC/SPA/NHA Area and Percent Terrestrial SAC/SPA/NHA Area columns. SAC/SPA/NHA  Area figures represent the total area nominated for designation/designated within each county.

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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681. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if it is policy to inform landholders if their land is to be designated as a special protection area, special area of conservation or natural heritage area; the other methods by which the attention of the public is drawn to such proposed designations; the number of appeals received by the appeals advisory board since the inception of these designations against designation; the number of these that went to a full oral hearing; the number of cases in which the advice of the board was varied by her; the years in which this occurred; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48009/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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When lands are being proposed for inclusion within a special area of conservation, special protection area or natural heritage area, each landowner is notified in writing of the proposed designation and is sent an information pack on the relevant site. The information pack explains the scientific reasons for the proposed designation, sets out the activities requiring my prior consent, as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and includes information on how to appeal against the proposed designation. A map showing the boundaries and extent of the site is also sent to landowners to help them to determine whether or not their land is located within the site proposed for designation.

Notice of the proposed designation is also:

1. published in at least one newspaper with circulation covering the area in which the site is located, in one national newspaper and on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department;

2. broadcast on a radio channel generally available in the area in which the site is located; and

3. provided for display in local Garda stations, local authority offices, public libraries, local offices of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine,  the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and offices of Teagasc.

My Department also notifies the relevant Ministers and public authorities of the proposed designation of a site.

Formal appeals against the inclusion of lands within a site proposed for designation are heard by the Designated Areas Appeals Advisory Board.  

Following an appeal hearing, the Board makes a recommendation to me, as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.  This recommendation is based on scientific grounds as to whether lands should be included in the site proposed for designation. The recommendation of the Designated Areas Appeals Advisory Board may be accepted in full, in part or rejected.

Details of the number of appeals received by the Board since its inception, the number of appeals heard by the Board and the number of cases in which the recommendation of the Board was accepted in part or rejected by me, as Minister, are outlined in the following table:

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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682. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of times the European Commission has approached her Department seeking further designations of special protection areas and special areas of conservation; her response in relation to these requests; the reason for each response; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48010/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Irish list of Special Areas of Conservation was reviewed in detail by the European Commission and Member States in 1999, 2002 and 2003 and on each of those occasions the Commission required additional designations of sites or refinements of the designations. A further process of examination of the marine Special Areas of Conservation was carried out in 2009 and 2016. Ireland is now considered sufficient in almost all respects although there is a "scientific reserve"  on sufficiency of marine sites for reef habitat and for the bottle-nosed dolphin.

In 2007, the European Court of Justice in case C-418/04 ruled that Ireland was required to designate additional Special Protection Areas, under the EU Birds Directive. This process is largely complete for land and freshwater sites, although there are still some landowner appeals under consideration in a small number of sites.

Ireland is still required by the European Commission to complete an analysis of the requirements (if any) to designate Special Protection Areas in Ireland’s marine territory. Data collection on seabird distribution has been carried out in the past 3 years and this data will be reviewed in 2019 to determine if there are marine areas which meet the criteria for such designation.