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Government must declare more blanket bog Special Areas of Conservation

For Release 12th April 1999

The Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC) is calling for a further 12,500ha of blanket bogs to be declared Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and for an immediate survey of our mountains to identify further SAC's.

As part of this campaign IPCC has submitted a report entitled 'Irish Blanket Bogs Special Areas Of Conservation Report' to the European Union and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.

In this report the IPCC advocates and presents arguments for the designation of 23 new site complexes, mainly mountain blanket bogs as SAC's. (see Editor's Note1).

IPCC are calling for a national survey of mountain blanket bogs and have identified at least 9 mountain ranges throughout the country with no designated SAC's due to an information gap including Slieve Callan, Slieve Aughty, Slieve Bernagh, Silvermines, Castlecomer Mountains, Knockmealdown Mountains, Nagles Mountains, Boggeragh Mountains and Mullaghareirk Mountains. "Therefore the Irish Government cannot claim to have adequately represented this habitat in its indicative SAC list" says Dr Peter Foss, Chairman IPCC.

The original extent of blanket bog on a global scale was in the region of 10 million hectares (ha). The habitat is restricted to 11 countries, only two of which - Ireland and the UK - occur within the European Union.

Within the European Union, Ireland and the UK have a unique obligation to protect active blanket bogs because of the occurrence of 8% of the original world distribution of this habitat in the Republic of Ireland and 16% of the original world distribution of the habitat in the UK (Scotland, England, Wales and N. Ireland). "This makes conservation of blanket bogs a priority under the Habitats Directive" says Dr Foss.

Blanket bogs undergo a range of deleterious effects from grazing and trampling by excessive sheep stocking, peat extraction, afforestation, and agricultural reclamation. More recently the possibility of erosion associated with the infrastructure elements of wind energy and telecommunication installations is of increasing concern. In the Republic of Ireland 80% of the original area of blanket bog has been lost to conservation. Only 155,244 ha of blanket bog is of conservation importance today.

To date 127,964ha of active blanket bog has been proposed as SACs by the Irish Government. This involves 25% of the original area of lowland blanket bog but only 10% of the original area of mountain blanket bog, due to an information gap. This is a poor performance in comparison with Scotland where conservation authorities are declaring between 20 and 30% of the original blanket bog resource as SAC's.

Editor's Note 1

Additional Active Blanket Bogs in Ireland being Proposed for SAC Designation by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council 1999

Total Area 12,448 ha Number of sites 23

NAME; County; NHA No.

• Croaghonagh; DL; 129
• Gannivegil Bog; DL; 142
• Lough Yganavan & Lough; KY; 370
• Carlingford Mountain; LH; 453
• Coronation Plantation; WW; 726
• Kippure/Lough Bray; WW; 726
• Liffey Head Bog; WW; 726
• Glenealo Catchment; WW; 728
• Table Top Mountain; WW; 728
• Slieve Bawn; CW WX; 770
• Mount Leinster & Blackstairs; WX; 770
• Corveen; DL; 1108
• Galwolie; DL; 1132
• Cronaguiggy (Meenacorwick); DL; 1176
• Carna Head; G; 1241
• Lamb's Head; KY; 1346
• Bangor-Erris Bog; MO; 1473
• Poltomish; MO; 1548
• Sillahertane; KY; 1882
• Dereen Upper; CK; 1887
• Mullaghcleevaun; CK; 1896
• Brockagh; WW; 1949
• Cloghoge; WW; 1951

ends