Three months to react to Kenmare SAC plan
Landowners will have a statutory timeframe of three months to seek the exclusion or inclusion of their land in the extended SAC.
Requests by landowners will be assessed on scientific grounds only.
SAC designation proposals for the Kenmare river area in Counties Cork and Kerry were first published in May, 2000, said Junior Environment Minister Tony Killeen in the Dáil. In response to European Commission concerns about Ireland’s list of proposed areas for designation as SACs, assessments and reviews were undertaken between 2001 and 2005 by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
As a result of this project, additional areas were recommended for inclusion in the Kenmare river SAC, for protection of an important habitat.
However, a large part of the additional 10,000 hectares is at sea and does not affect landowners directly, said Mr Killeen.
He was responding to a Dáil question from Tom Sheahan, TD.
* Kerry has more of its territory designated as special areas of conservation than any other county.
No less than 25.2%, or 119,697.04 of its 475,000.06 hectares, are SACs. Farmers say designations restrict production and development of their land, reducing their income and property values, and that compensation on offer is inadequate.
