Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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63. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures that the National Parks and Wildlife Service is taking to avoid pollution in saltwater lagoons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65855/25]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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Coastal lagoons, a priority habitat listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, are lakes or ponds that are fully or partially separated from the sea by a permeable barrier.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department has selected and designated 25 coastal lagoons as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), encompassing more than 90% of that habitat occuring in Ireland. The NPWS has published site-specific conservation objectives for all 25 designated coastal lagoons outlining the ecological attributes, including water quality, that contribute to the favourable conservation status of this habitat. The NPWS collaborates and works with a range of public authorities and agencies with responsibility for water quality, across the country, to restore or maintain favourable conservation status at all coastal lagoons in SAC sites.

Further information about coastal lagoons and other protected sites in Ireland is available at www.npws.ie/protected-sites.