The Government has said it will not be increasing the number of Special Areas of Conservation following a judgment by the European Court yesterday which found that member-states must submit an "exhaustive list" of sites for protection to the European Commission. "We are satisfied we are sending in enough sites to Brussels," a spokesman for the Department of Heritage said last night.
The Minister, Ms Sile de Valera, would be open to increasing the number of sites if such a proposal was made at a European Commission seminar on SAC sites, the spokesman added.
An Taisce said it had hoped the judgment would put pressure on the Government to add more sites to its list of SACs. A group of five environmental organisations, including An Taisce, had criticised the Government list of 360 SAC sites. The group submitted a list of 630 sites to the European Commission in July which, it said, were of European importance.
An Taisce said 148 of the sites were known to Duchas, the Irish heritage service; 260 were sites proposed as National Heritage Areas under the forthcoming Wildlife Amendment Act; 105 were sites proposed as SACs which require specific protection. The judgment, which was in relation to a site in Britain, said member states were required by law to submit extensive lists of sites of ecological importance.
"This significant judgment will greatly strengthen our case for additional designations. It supports the case against Ireland taken by the Commission under the Habitats Directive which is to be heard next year," Ms Shirley Clerkin of An Taisce said.
She added sites were being left out for economic reasons and because of planning decisions for developments. The deadline for the Government to submit its list of sites to the Commission was the end of this month. In September last year the Government admitted its list of SACs was insufficient and extra protection for salmon would be necessary.
The other NGOs in the group which submitted additional sites to the European Commission were the Irish Peatland Conservation Council; Birdwatch Ireland, Coastwatch and the Irish Wildlife Trust.