THE European Commission has commenced infringement proceedings against Ireland for its failure to designate Marine Special Protection Areas for seabirds.

Oonagh Duggan, head of policy and advocacy at BirdWatch Ireland told The Southern Star: 'The Irish government has been required to designate marine sites for seabirds since 2012.' 

The European Commission announced recently that it is going to issue a letter of 'formal notice' to the Irish Government compelling them to designate sites.

Oonagh said that it is a shame that the EU birds directive has not been implement as required.

She acknowledged that the Irish government has, in the last 10 years, invested a significant amount in seabird surveys and monitoring.

However, it has 'fallen short' in relation to a designation process that would create special protection areas for seabirds.

'All birds are protected, but there are some that are rare and migrate long-distances for breeding and wintering so they need special protection areas to complete their life cycle,' Oonagh explained.

'While the designation process has begun for some marine areas, it has to be said that the process has been slow and we have concerns relating to it.

'For starters, we don't know how many special protection areas the government is going to designate. We believe 24 are needed in open water, as well 51 breeding sites on cliffs, islands or land.

Of these 51 breeding sites, Oonagh said nine are not designated but should be if they are to protect seabirds and biodiversity.

'The real problem is the sites in open water because none of these sites are protected​. It's like on land, a planning application would need to be environmentally assessed. Similarly, at sea, oil or gas exploration works would have to be environmentally assessed. 

'The same would apply to fishery activities. They would need to be examined to make sure they would not have an adverse impact on those rare, migratory species,' she stated.

According to Oonagh, it was the European Court of Justice that issued rulings outlining how member states must designate all suitable sites for birds and how these must be based solely on ornithological criteria and not economic interests.

'Ireland is at a critical juncture,' she warned. 'The government is racing to identify areas for offshore wind, which we need urgently, but it is lagging behind in the designation of marine sites for seabirds. 

'The failure to identify and protect these marine sites before identifying areas for offshore wind creates significant uncertainty for nature protection and for wind farm developers.' 

Sarah Hegarty, marine advocacy and campaigns officer with Birdwatch Ireland, said the country, including key locations in West Cork, is important globally for seabirds. 

Twenty-three of Ireland’s 24 breeding seabird species are red or amber-listed birds of conservation concern. 

Included are species such as Puffins and the Kittiwakes which are on the red list and vulnerable globally.

Sarah said Birdwatch Ireland is asking the government to publish the Marine Protected Area legislation as soon as possible so the protected areas at sea can be identified.

'The government,' she concluded, 'has been putting the protection of marine life on the long finger for far too long.'

Cork South West TD and Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O'Sullivan said Ireland has taken huge strides over the last decade in monitoring and surveying its marine environment through initiatives like SeaRover (The Sensitive Ecosystem Assessment and ROV Exploration of Reef) and the ObSERVE programme as well as a myriad of other programmes and projects that served to identify the most appropriate areas for classification and designation.

'Ireland has to date notified to the European Commission two very large marine Special Protection Areas (SPAs): Seas off Wexford SPA, North West Irish Sea SPA, and extensions to the Bull and the Cow Rock SPA and the Murrough SPA,’ he said.

'Ireland has also notified two very large Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for Reef: The Southern Canyons and Porcupine Shelf SACs.

Ireland has also added Bottlenose Dolphin and Harbour Porpoise as a qualifying interest to 11 and 13 existing SACs, respectively. These sites have had legal protection since the date of public notification.

'The European Commission has formally written to the Irish government (Letter of Formal Notice) alleging insufficiency of Marine Natura 2000 sites designated and classified by Ireland for the protection of habitats and species under the Habitats and Birds Directives.

'Ireland,' he added, 'is still assimilating the Letter of Formal Notice and the documentation provided by the Commission and will not be making further comment on the notification at this point, beyond stating that we will defend our huge progress in this area vigorously.'