Three leading conservation bodies - An Taisce, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and Birdwatch Ireland - have condemned the Government's continuing failure to submit a full list of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to the European Commission.
Although they welcomed publication last week by the Minister for Arts and Culture, Ms de Valera, of the first 39 sites to be designated as SACs, they said these would remain unprotected until the full list had been sent to Brussels.
They pointed out that the initial list represents only 20 per cent of Ireland's proposed SACs and had been submitted four years late. As a result, the Commission is to prosecute Ireland for non-compliance with the EU Habitats Directive.
"Not one raised or blanket bog is on the list. No progress appears to have been made in resolving the compensation problems over turf-cutting," the three bodies said. "Listed sand dunes at Banna and Inch in Co Kerry, Rinmore, Co Donegal, and Doonbeg, Co Clare, all face imminent destruction."
They also said that the few remaining ancient woodlands, such as the Glen of the Downs in Co Wicklow, were under pressure from developers and road-builders. "In turn, the animals that need these habitats for their survival - some of them unique to Ireland - remain entirely unprotected."
The three bodies again called on the appropriate Ministers to devote sufficient resources to completing Ireland's obligations under the Habitats Directive by the end of this year and to publish the long-awaited amendments to the 1976 Wildlife Act.
