The European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations, 1997, transpose the EU habitats directive into Irish law. Under section 5 of the regulations a person may object on scientific grounds to a proposed designation of his or her lands. The procedure that is in place for doing this is as follows: the landowner is asked to contact Dúchas the Heritage Service of my Department initially. If the matter cannot be resolved on an informal basis, the landowner is then advised to make a formal appeal to the SAC appeals advisory board set up by me for this purpose. When this notice of appeal is received by Dúchas, two copies of the documentation that forms the basis for the proposed designation are made. One copy is sent to the landowner-appellant and the other copy is sent to the appeals board. These documents include certification form, appeal documentation, SAC map, site map, site card, site synopsis, habitat and species list and Natura 2000 form.
In effect this documentation is forwarded to a landowner as soon as it is needed by him-her, that is, when it is found that Dúchas cannot accede to the objection to the designation and the landowner wishes to proceed with an appeal to the SAC appeals advisory board. If an individual landowner wishes to receive such detailed documentation at an earlier stage, it will be supplied on request free of charge. Copies of correspondence with the European Commission are not considered to be relevant to individual site selection, and would not be supplied automatically. Such information may be sought under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, but there may be a charge.
