Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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270. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if a list of prospective sites for SCI designation is kept by the scientific unit of the National Parks and Wildlife Service; if this list will be made public with an indication of each habitats from the earliest entry date to the most recent entry, in the interests of transparency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49323/25]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) maintains databases and other resources holding ecological information on designated and non-designated areas. Such information has been compiled from various sources - surveys, publications, unpublished reports, herbaria and as notified to the NPWS, amongst others. Information on sites that may be proposed as Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) is drawn from a wide variety of sources and before selection as such would be subject to prior assessment under the strict criteria set out in Annex III of the EU Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora). There are no plans at this time to expand the number of such terrestrial sites.