Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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236. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the conditions under which land designated as an SAC can be taken out of the SAC; if it is intended to change this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55983/22]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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EU Member states are required to designate areas as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to protect a variety of habitats and species under the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) .This Directive is transposed into Irish law by the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 477 of 2011).

The designation of SAC sites under the Directive is a formal, legal process, with a number of steps, which are set out in full in the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011.

Site boundaries are determined on scientific grounds, based on the protected habitats and species for which the site is to be designated.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage undertakes a public notification of his intention to designate any site as an SAC. From the date of this notification, the site becomes a Candidate SAC. Every owner or occupier within the proposed site, where their identities are known, is notified directly in writing. They are provided with detailed information including a map of the site and information about why that site is being proposed for designation.

Advertisements are published in local media and notices are displayed in local Government offices, Garda stations and public libraries. Owners and occupiers are given an opportunity to lodge objections on the proposed site boundaries, on scientific grounds. A three-month period is allowed for the lodging of any appeals before the sites are formally designated by Statutory Instrument. 

De-designation of a European Site or part of a site is permitted only in very limited circumstances, and is not a national policy decision but a matter of European law . Any proposal to de-designate a European Site, or part of a site must be based on scientific grounds alone, and requires the consent of the European Commission.