Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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689. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if concerns were raised on a matter regarding a conflict of interest (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22909/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In framing its policy in this area, the Department received input from a number of different sources and were also obliged to take account of relevant case law. There is no single input or factor which has determined our position on this.

The Habitats Directive and the transposing legislation SI 477 of 2011 require, inter alia, that an appropriate assessment is undertaken where screening identifies a likelihood of the project having a significant effect on a European site(s). This is true regardless of the separation distance between the project and the European site(s).

A likely zone of impact is used in order to identify those European Sites to be specifically addressed during screening. In making a decision regarding the likelihood of a project having a significant effect on a European Site(s), all European Sites within a certain radius (or ‘likely zone of impact’) should be considered at screening stage, in addition to hydrologically-connected European Sites. For example, in relation to a Special Protection Area, it is important to consider whether the project area lies within the foraging distance of bird species for which that SPA was designated, and many of these foraging distances exceed 3km.