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Debate on
serious economic consequences of the proposed Special
Protection Area Order for Wexford Harbour and Slobs
Tuesday, 12 February, 2008
Environmental Policy
Deputy
Brendan Howlin: I
welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Hoctor, and I am glad the Minister of State at the
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy
Browne, is still in the House. I am sorry the Minister
for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government,
Deputy Gormley, is not here to respond personally to
what I regard as one of the most important issues I have
raised on behalf of my constituency since I became a
Member of this House 21 years ago.
On 13 December 2007, the European
Court of Justice gave a judgment in a case taken by the
Commission against Ireland under the birds directive.
Among the findings in this judgment, which I read, was
that we have an inadequate number and size of areas
classified as special protection areas, contrary to
Articles 4.1 and 4.2 of the birds directive. I read not
only the legal judgment but the recitals of all the
ongoing dialogue and the legal exchanges between Ireland
and the European Commission since 1998.
In a panicked response to this
judgment, the Government has begun a process of
designating new areas. Last week, I spoke to the
assistant director of the National Parks and Wildlife
Service. He told me areas such as Dublin Bay, Galway Bay
and Cork Harbour are being examined. I wish the
Government had started there because when the extent of
what is proposed is seen it will cause such an outcry
that it must be changed. The proposed designation of
Wexford Harbour up to Enniscorthy, the home town of the
Minister of State, Deputy Browne, is quite scandalous,
taking in a huge swathe of south County Wexford.
9
o’clock
No one has any difficulty with
protecting bird species; we are all at one on the need
to do this. The extent, however, of the designation laid
out in the proposals under the directive will be to ruin
Wexford. In the words of a senior public official in
Wexford yesterday, it is the erection of an economic
barrier around the town.
I will remind the Minister of
State the activities that will require ministerial
consent under this proposal. Among them is the
harvesting of marine species, unless for personal use
and not exceeding certain limits. This is in one of the
most productive harvesting harbours in Ireland with a
multi-million euro industry in mussel fisheries. Another
activity is the construction or alteration of tracks,
paths, roads, embankments, car parks or access routes.
Among the areas designated as a bird sanctuary is the
park-and-ride car park for Wexford town. Any activity
that develops, operates or allows leisure or sporting
facilities that might cause disturbance to the birds
requires ministerial consent. Wexford Harbour is a
leisure harbour attracting thousands of visitors. Any
activity which destroys habitats means any building on
the lands contiguous to Wexford will be banned. That
also includes reclamation, infilling and dredging with
the final, catch-all comment, “any other activity”.
This proposal is wholly
unacceptable and illogical and must be changed. As I
speak, a public meeting in Wexford with 600 people
attending is under way. That will be the thin end of the
wedge of public reaction. This proposal puts in
immediate jeopardy multi-million euro projects,
including the expansion of the Wexford main drainage
scheme to give a 45,000 population equivalent.
The Labour Party and others want
the Lisbon treaty voted through in several months.
However, this sort of cack-handed implementation of EU
policy will destroy public confidence in the EU and
public support for the Lisbon reform treaty. This must
be addressed immediately. Otherwise, there will be a
public outcry of resistance in Wexford to the economic
sabotage to the future of our town.
I hope the Minister of State will
bring to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and
Local Government my strong feelings and those of the
thousands in my county agitated by this proposal. I
expect a speedy, sympathetic, realistic and logical
response.
Deputy
Máire Hoctor: I
am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley.
EU member states are required
under the birds directive to protect birds at their
breeding, feeding, roosting and wintering areas. The
directive was transposed by the European Communities
(Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997, as amended in 1998
and 2005. These regulations enable the Minister for the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government to designate
the most important conservation areas as special
protection areas, SPAs, and to afford them legal
protection.
The Department engaged in a
nationwide roll-out of SPAs. The exercise included
redesignation of SPA sites, some of which, like Wexford
Harbour, were first designated ten years ago. This work
is particularly required as part of Ireland’s response
to litigation being pursued by the European Commission
under the birds directive. An adverse judgment delivered
by the European Court of Justice against Ireland in
December 2007 means we must press ahead with this
programme.
On 16 December 2007, as part of
the programme, the Department proposed three sites in
County Wexford for designation as SPAs for wild birds -
Lady’s Island Lake, Ballyteigue Burrow and Wexford
Harbour and Slobs. Details of the proposals to designate
these sites were published in the regional press and
local radio. While these are not new designations, the
boundaries have been extended in some areas. Landowners
and others identified by the Department’s National Parks
and Wildlife Service, NPWS, as having land or holding
rights or licences in SPAs were notified directly in
writing. They were provided with a site map and
description, list of activities that might damage the
site, procedures for objecting to the designation
proposal and details of compensation provisions.
Objections on scientific grounds to these proposals may
be submitted within three months from the date of their
publication.
Wexford Harbour and Slobs SPA
consists of the natural estuarine habitats of Wexford
Harbour, the reclaimed polders known as the north and
south Slobs and the tidal river component of the Slaney.
Deputy
Brendan Howlin: That
goes right up to Enniscorthy.
Deputy
Máire Hoctor: The
seaward boundary extends from the Rosslare Peninsula in
the south to an area just west of Raven Point in the
north. The SPA stretches upriver as far as Enniscorthy.
Contrary to some allegations, the urban area of Wexford
is not included in the area proposed for designation.
Wexford Harbour and Slobs is one
of the top three sites in diversity of wintering birds
and regularly supports well in excess of 20,000 water
birds. The combination of estuarine habitats, include
shallow waters for grebes, diving duck and seaduck, and
the farmland of the polders, which include freshwater
drainage channels, provides optimum feeding and roost
areas for a wide range of species. It is one of the two
most important sites in the world for the Greenland
white-fronted goose.
To protect ecologically important
sites, certain potentially harmful works are restricted
within SPAs. These works, notifiable actions or
operations requiring consent, are liable to destroy or
significantly to alter, damage or interfere with the
ecology of the site. They vary depending on the type of
habitat present.
A landowner or land-user
contemplating works that might harm a designated habitat
is required to seek the consent of the Minister. In
practice, the local NPWS conservation ranger will be
able to provide advice to a landowner on what may or may
not require consent.
Deputy
Brendan Howlin: Where
stands the main drainage scheme?
Deputy
Máire Hoctor: Operations
which require consent would include, for example,
altering watercourses or wetlands, burning areas of
vegetation, harvesting marine species, construction or
alteration of tracks, paths, roads, embankments, car
parks or access routes, dumping, burning or disposal of
any materials, reclaiming land for agricultural
purposes, planting of trees, reclamation or infilling,
removal of soil, mud, sand, gravel, rock or minerals,
etc.
The fair application of these
protective measures would not have any serious economic
consequence for the people of Wexford town. It is not
envisaged that there would be a need to interfere with
current levels of recreational use of the site.
The Government is committed to the
payment of a fair and proper level of compensation to
landowners and land-users who are at a financial loss as
a result of the designation of a SPA. Lands within a SPA
or a commonage constitute target areas under measure A,
conservation of natural heritage of REPS, as operated by
the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Under
that scheme generous top-up payments are available to
those who have land in designated area.
Separate from REPS, the Department
of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government runs a
farm plan scheme which allows a landowner to seek
compensation for actual losses or costs incurred due to
restrictions placed on existing activities solely as a
result of the inclusion of an area in a special
protected area.
Any proposed large-scale
development in the area would go through normal planning
processes and be subject to appropriate assessment from
an environmental perspective. However, the footprint of
this SPA designation is on the water surface.
Consequently, I do not envisage such development issues
as being particularly problematic in this context.
Deputy
Brendan Howlin: I
will show the Minister of State the map.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.10 p.m.
until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 13 February 2008.
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