Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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615. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider a review on the special areas of conservation maps. [16898/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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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) transposed into Irish law by the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 477 of 2011).

SAC sites are part of a European network of Sites of Community Importance, known as the Natura 2000 network, and the designation of an SAC site is a formal, legal process in Irish and European law.

Amendments to any aspect of a European Site, or part thereof, are permitted only in very limited circumstances, must be based on scientific grounds alone, and require the consent of the European Commission. Any proposal to change an SAC site, or part thereof, is not solely a national policy decision but a matter of European law.

Detailed maps showing the legal boundary for each SAC site can be accessed by the public on the NPWS website at www.npws.ie/maps-and-data.