It is my opinion and I’ve asked many to prove me wrong, that these so called SAC’s exist in Ireland and an exchange that I had with Minister for Arts, Heritage and The Gaeltacht in the Dail on Thursday confirms that to me. I have been saying for years that the SAC’s do not exist and that now appears to be the case. The Minister says that such areas so called are fully protected legally but I have searched extensively and also legally and as far as I am concerned there is no such thing as an SAC in Ireland. There may be SCIs’ as the Minister calls them, with legal protection but they are not SAC’s. The Minister says that there is a legal process in train at the moment but that just confirms that as far as I can ascertain SAC’s do not exist in Ireland.
“I gather from what the Minister is saying that until that legal process has gone through people may talk about SACs but they do not exist. There are other legal terms but until this legal process the Minister is talking about has been done, people are using the wrong word” Is what I told the Minister in the Dail