This article is from page 16 of the 2008-08-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
ALMOST 40 per cent of objections lodged nationally against special des- ignation areas for the protected bird, the Hen Harrier, have been lodged in County Clare.
In a Dail response, the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley stated that across the country 804 objections against Special Protec- tion Area (SPA) designation have been received by his department in relation to six areas with 744 being declared valid.
Minister Gormley confirmed that in relation to plans to designate an SPA in the Slieve Aughty mountains on north-east Clare, his department has received a total of 238 objec- tions.
Speaking in relation to all the ob- jections received, Minister Gormley said, “Approximately three-quarters of these relate to requests to have land removed from the SPA, with the remainder requesting land to be included.”
Only the Stacks’ to Mullagha- reirk mountains in west County Lim- erick have received more objections at 340.
The largest SPA is the Slieve Aughty mountains and involves the designation of 61,000 hectares where the National Parks and Wildlife Serv- ice (NWPS) believe that 24 pairs of Hen Harrier are present or 17% of the overall Hen Harrier population in Ireland of 130-150 pairs.
The NPWS describe the Slieve Aughty site as one of the top two sites in the country for the species and states “that the main threat to the long-term survival of Hen Har- riers within the site is further affor- estation, which would reduce and
fragment the area of foraging habitat, resulting in possible reductions in breeding density and productivity”.
Minister Gormley said that there is a two-stage process for assessing objections.
The first stage 1s an internal scien- tific review of the area under objec- tion. Following completion of this stage, objectors dissatisfied with the outcome may have their case referred to an independent Appeals Advisory Board.
He added, “Ienvisage that the internal review stage of all objec- tions will be completed by end Sep- tember 2008. The timeframe for the second stage review will depend on the number of cases that are re- ferred to the appeals.”
Earlier this year, the Director of the NWPS, Ms Oonagh Buckley tried to allay landowners by stating that the designation would not affect plans for one-off housing in the area and Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) said, “The east Clare area is already experiencing no growth in population and there have been worries that the restriction would further stymie growth.”