This article is from page 105 of the 2007-11-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 105 JPG
EAST Clare politicians have called for a special meeting of their area council and want representatives from the National Parks And Wild- life service to attend.
Elected representatives say they are not comforted by the information provided at a meeting in Tulla on the proposal to include large tracts of land in the Slieve Aughty range in the Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for the endangered Hen Harrier.
The wildlife service held an infor- mation session in TJulla on Friday for people who are likely to be af- fected by the decision to make Slieve Aughty an SPA.
But local councillor, Pat Hayes(FF) who is himself a landowner in the area, said that the meeting raised as many concerns as it answered.
“It appears now that landowners will not be paid for all their land be- ing made a protection area, only for those bits of it that are mountainey and scrub. The Hen Harrier doesn’t distinguish between grassland and oul one
Cllr Hayes said he is concerned about the effect which the SPA’s may have on planning and selling sites in the future.
He is also concerned that it may af-
fect applications currently before the local authority for windfarms in the en aXes
“We’re told that it won’t affect planning yet every application which is made on the land covered by the SPA will have to be referred to the national wildlife service’, said Cllr SEM exy
“It seems that all of the national stakeholders have signed up to this, farming organisations, Coillte, for- estry Services.
‘“They’ve all singed up to it except the real stakeholders – the landown- ers”, Cllr Hayes said.
He added that he wants to see pay- ments made on all lands covered the protection order and not just tracts of those lands.
Earlier in the week, councillors at- tending a meeting of the Scariff area committee of Clare County Council asked their offices to find a date for a special meeting to discuss the is- sue and for representatives of the wildlife service to be invited to that meeting.
In information supplied to mem- bers of the Scariff area committee, the wildlife service said that ac- tivities such as turf cutting, existing farming or forestry activities, con- struction of private houses or farm infrastructure.