The legal basis for the designation of vast tracts of Irish farmland has been called into question in Brussels.

The ratification process used to designate tens of thousands of hectares of farmland as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) has been deemed flawed by the EU’s advocate general Tamara Capeta.

In a legal opinion which potentially has serious implications for Ireland, Capeta pointed out that locations identified as Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) in 2004 and 2008 were not officially ratified as SACs within the six years specified in European legislation.

Deadline

“Under Article 4(4) of the Habitats Directive, every SCI must be designated by the member state concerned as an SAC. Furthermore, such designation has to happen within six years of the adoption of the binding list of SCIs. That deadline expired in relation to the SCIs at issue in this case in 2010 and 2014, respectively,” Carpeta stated.

Around 14% of Ireland’s land area – around 800,000ha or 2m acres – is designated as SACs or Special Protected Areas.

More than 30,000 landowners with designated ground are subject to onerous restrictions, with 38 different farming actions requiring prior consent. The legal basis for these restrictions will now be in the spotlight following Capeta’s findings.

Capeta’s opinion – which was delivered as part of an ongoing EU Court of Justice (ECJ) case involving the European Commission and Ireland – also stated that the Irish State failed to fulfil its obligations on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.

Capeta agreed with the Commission’s contention that Ireland had failed to designate close to 200 sites as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in a timely fashion, and neglected to set site-specific conservation objectives and measures for designated areas.