Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The site referred to is a privately owned site that has not been considered for national park status. The site already enjoys extensive legal protections as a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area and a designated Nature Reserve.

The site is owned largely by the ESB. I understand a management plan scoping exercise was undertaken by ESB International on behalf of the ESB in 2016/2017. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department contributed as part of the stakeholder group to the report produced as a result of that exercise. I understand that the ESB has now completed a draft management plan which is being considered by ESB management, and that the National Parks and Wildlife Service has offered to engage with the site owners in relation to the draft plan.

The NPWS completed and published detailed site-specific conservation objectives for the Gearagh SAC (000108) in September 2016.

Under the Habitats Directive, Ireland is obliged to report to the EU on the conservation status of all habitats and species of European Community interest, as listed in Annexes to the Directive. Monitoring of SACs is carried out by the NPWS on a cyclical basis. The most recent report was submitted to the EU in 2019 and is available on the NPWS website.

The priority habitat “Alluvial forests with Alder and Ash” is one of the qualifying interests of the Gearagh SAC and a monitoring site for this habitat is located within the SAC. It was most recently surveyed during the 2017-2018 monitoring period, when the area, structure and functions, and future prospects of the habitat in SAC were all assessed as favourable. This is in contrast with the national conservation status of the Alluvial forests habitat in Ireland, which is considered to be bad, and deteriorating.

The Gearagh SAC is also listed for the habitat “Rivers with muddy banks”. In addition to the NPWS survey, results of a 2018 botanical survey were made available to the NPWS by the ESB. The habitat was assessed as favourable in the Gearagh SAC.

The NPWS continues to engage with the ESB on the monitoring of this site. The positive findings from scientific surveys are indicators of a good management regime.