Marian Harkin urges urgent action after Shaas Mountain bog slide

Thanks. First of all, I think it's Minister Noonan, can I wish you well in your new portfolio and I look forward to working with you Minister. Now this is the second time that I've had the opportunity to raise this issue here in the House and when I spoke earlier it was to the Taunish the last week and he replied that normally in situations like this where there is a disaster that the government would step in to offer support. I beg your pardon to interrupt you, I'm just not sure what Minister is taking this. Minister. Minister Noonan. Yeah, I beg your pardon. Go ahead, sorry for the interruption. Thank you. I spoke about the mud slide, the bog slide from Shaas Mountain in Drumkirne and he said that when there's a disaster the government would normally step in to offer some support. Well this is surely that. It's a disaster that has now become an emergency and many people who live in that area are asking you know, where is that support? We haven't heard anything, we haven't seen anything. Now I have visited the site twice. The second time was last Friday evening with my colleague Deputy Fitzmaurice and we went to that point on the mountain where the forestry was literally emerging. Islands of trees emerging, islands of trees emerging from the forestry sliding down the side of the mountain. It was just incredible to see it and it's difficult to estimate but we're looking at maybe 300,000, 400,000 cubic metres of peat and of bog. The bog slide continues down the mountain for several miles and it stops within 200 metres of two family homes and on the edge of not 50 metres from the Dipaha River which then continues and flows into Lock Allen. Several homes are in danger and one house already has about nine inches of bog at the back door. Vast, vast swathes of land have been completely destroyed and the only thing holding back half the mountain side is a bridge called the Dawn of Hope Bridge. Built back in the 1800s, built back in the 1800s, built back in the 1800s, the late 1800s and it's absolutely astonishing that that bridge is still standing and holding back hundreds, thousands of tonnes of trees and bog. And that's the emergency that I speak of because there are real fears that that bridge will not hold and urgent action needs to be taken in some way to reinforce the bridge, to try to stabilise the bog slide. And that, Minister, is the immediate need and people in the area, especially those whose homes are in danger and those whose land is destroyed, they need to know now, Minister, that nine days later they are not being forgotten about. I can give a response certainly from our own perspective and the agency within my remit, which is National Parks and Wildlife Service. Obviously, as Deputy Fritz Morris has pointed out, there are a number of other agencies involved here as well. The legislation underpinning the Protection and Conservation of Nature in Ireland is the Wildlife Act of 1976 to 2018 and the European Communities, Birds and Natural Habitats Regulations 2011. Natural heritage areas have been designated under the Wildlife Amendment Act of 2000. The EU Birds Directive and Habitats Directive provide for the protection of certain habitats and species across the European Union, giving a framework for specific measures to be taken to target areas of concern in each member state. In essence, the 2011 regulations transpose these directives into national law and provide for the nomination and designation of special protection areas, SPAs, aimed at the protection of threatened species of birds and special areas of conservation, aimed at protecting other animal species and habitats. Ireland is an EU stronghold for blanket bogs and provide essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and water regulation, and also harbour many important plant and animal species. Under the Habitats Directive, Ireland has identified 50 areas of special areas of conservation for the protection of blanket bog, and there are 73 blanket bogs natural heritage areas. These SACs include lowland and mountain blanket bogs predominantly along the western Atlantic seaboard, but also widely distributed on upland areas. Many of the SAC sites identified for the protection of blanket bogs are extensive and include complexes of other habitats, such as dry heath, transition mires, acid grasslands, rivers and streams. Protected species found include dunlin, golden plover, whooper swan, red deer, otter, freshwater pearl mussel, among others. Blanket bog, together with other peatlands, have formed in the Irish landscape since the last ice age, and together with remnants of primeval forests, some of our oldest surviving ecosystems. In November 2019, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department was awarded $12.4 million in funding under the EU Life Programme for an EU Life integrated project, Life Wild Atlantic Nature, which aims to protect and restore blanket bog and associated habitat. The project seems to improve the conservation status of special areas of conservation of networked blanket bog. The project startup has been delayed by COVID-19 pandemic, but is scheduled to take place over a period of nine years and will be undertaken with the consultation and involvement of local landowners and communities. Boley Brack Mountain was nominated for designation as a special area of conservation in June 2003, and is afforded protection under the 2011 regulations. It comprises an extensive upland plateau, situated in the north of Black Allen in County Leitrim, and is dominated by active mountain blackknit bog and wet heath. I was very concerned when I heard about the bog slide affecting the community in Drumkir in County Leitrim. The site of Shaas Mountain is in Boley Brack Mountain Special Area Conservation. Officers from the National Park and Wildlife Service of the Department have been onto the site to investigate the extent of the damage of the SAC. Initial findings are that the bog slide originated within the southern section of Boley Brack Mountain SAC and along the southern flank of the Forestry Plantation. The land where the slide originated is now very unstable and further slippages may occur. The volume of peat loss appears to be quite substantial and given land affected downstream. A significant amount of peat from within the SAC has slid down to headwaters of the stream, which is a tributary of the Differ River and itself enters into Loch Allen. The peat material has been carried up to five kilometres and deposited within the floodplain along the distance. A drone survey or equivalent may be needed to fully assess the scale of the damage. I understand that Leitrim County Council at present, the lead agency dealing with the incident, the Office of Public Works is in contact with engineers in the Council and providing advice as required. In addition, both the Forestry Inspectorate of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, and Coelta have been on site since the event and have examined the site in detail. Thank you for your reply, Minister. I know you have your own portfolio. You are talking about the birds and the habitats directive. I am well familiar with them, but to be honest, the species that is under threat right now, as I said, a disaster heading into an emergency, are the people who live there, the people whose lands are destroyed. The big issue, I hear what you are saying, there are people on the ground, they are looking at it, they are assessing it. But I am talking every day to the people in Drumcairn, and they are hearing nothing. They know that there are people looking at it, etc. But they want to see action. They want to know that their homes and lands are protected. And if the focus is protecting the habitat, if we do not do something to stabilise what is happening, that will be destroyed as well. But people need to hear and know that they are the primary focus. And if we do not say that to people, and you know it as well as I do, then people look at something like the habitats directive and think of it as something negative. It is not. It was never meant to be. But people have to come first. We need support to Leitrim County Council, and as my colleague Michael Fitzmaier said, we need some sort of a task force set up so that people can have faith in the institutions of this state to help them when a disaster comes. The government will be active in protecting our natural heritage and responding to the biodiversity emergency and drivers of loss. Investing in the restoration of ecosystems will have multiple additional co-benefits, including water regulation, water purification and carbon sequestration. Sustainable land use management must be a key component of our work. The NPWS and the Department has been and will continue to lead this work. I am aware of the great concern, both locally and nationally, regarding the bog slide and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department will work with other bodies that I have mentioned and continue to investigate to deal with this incident. I just want to add that this is the remit of my own department, but I am certainly happy to work with both deputies Harkin and Fitzmaurice if we have to establish a working group. I am more than happy to visit the site, you know, but within my own context, and to keep this at government level, to try and seek a resolution and bring together a working group if that is what is required. I am certainly more than happy to do that. Goora Margot. Thank you very much.