18A.—(1) The Minister—

(a) shall continue to conduct and complete the review of raised bog habitats, known for the time being as the 2014 Review of Raised Bog Natural Heritage Area Network, and

(b) subject to subsection (5), may conduct one or more than one review of a natural heritage area (other than a natural heritage area falling to be reviewed under paragraph (a)).

(2) The purposes of a review under subsection (1) include:

(a) contributing to the achievement of nature conservation objectives of maintaining bog habitats at or restoring bog habitats to a favourable conservation status;

(b) contributing to the carbon sequestration potential of bog habitats;

(c) contributing to actions, relevant to bog habitats, contained in a national plan or a plan for the island of Ireland, concerning the reversal of pollinator decline;

(d) selecting the most suitable bog habitats—

(i) to be designated as natural heritage areas having regard to—

(I) all of the matters to which the Minister is required to have regard under section 16(6),

(II) national, regional and local economic, social and cultural needs,

(III) facilities and projects which can be of significant benefit to a community, and

(IV) projects which relate to strategic infrastructure development, within the meaning of the Planning and Development Act 2000,

or

(ii) to cease to be designated as natural heritage areas having regard to—

(I) environmental criteria,

(II) restoration potential,

(III) national, regional and local economic, social and cultural needs,

(IV) facilities and projects which can be of significant benefit to a community, and

(V) projects which relate to strategic infrastructure development, within the meaning of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

(3) The Minister shall, in relation to the effects on the environment of the proposals arising from a review under subsection (1)—

(a) carry out an assessment, including public consultation, under the European Communities (Environmental Assessment of Certain Plans and Programmes) Regulations 2004 (S.I. No. 435 of 2004), and

(b) if it is required, carry out any other—

(i) screening for an assessment, or

(ii) as the case may be, assessment, including public consultation.

(4) Having, on the completion of a review under subsection (1), considered the proposals arising from the review and had regard to the assessment and observations or submissions received during the public consultation under subsection (3)(a) and any screening for assessment or, as the case may be, assessment and observations or submissions received during a public consultation under subsection (3)(b), the Minister shall do one or more of the following:

(a) where he or she is satisfied that a natural heritage area order should be made, publish under section 16 a notice of his or her intention to make the natural heritage area order;

(b) notwithstanding section 18(3), where he or she is satisfied that land should cease to be designated as a natural heritage area, make an order to amend or revoke the natural heritage area order which so designated the land.

(5) (a) Subject to subsection (6), before the Minister makes an order under subsection (4)(b) relating to a natural heritage area containing a blanket bog habitat, he or she shall, for the purposes referred to in subsection (2), conduct a review of blanket bog habitats.

(b) The review conducted under paragraph (a) shall include designated blanket bog natural heritage areas and other blanket bog natural heritage areas as the Minister considers necessary.

(6) Subsection (5) shall not apply to a natural heritage area, whether or not a designated natural heritage area, falling to be reviewed under the review referred to in subsection (1)(a).

(7) Where the Minister makes an order under subsection (4)(b), he or she shall—

(a) inform the public of the making of the order by publishing or causing to be published a notice of the making of the order in Iris Oifigiúil, in a national newspaper, in at least one newspaper circulating in the locality in which the land to which the order applies is situate and on the website of his or her Department, and

(b) cause a copy of the order to be sent to—

(i) the owner or occupier of land which ceases to be designated as a natural heritage area by virtue of the order,

(ii) the holder of a valid prospecting or exploration licence duly issued under any enactment which relates to such land,

(iii) the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine,

(iv) F7[…]

(v) any other Minister of the Government that the Minister considers appropriate,

(vi) the Committee appointed by either House of the Oireachtas or jointly by both Houses of the Oireachtas to examine matters and make recommendations in relation to natural heritage,

(vii) the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland,(viii) any planning authority in whose functional area the land is situate,(ix) an Bord Pleanála, and

(x) the Environmental Protection Agency.

(8) Section 19(2) shall not apply to any land or part of land, in respect of which a notice has been served under section 16(2)(b), which land or part of land ceases to be designated as a natural heritage area by virtue of the amendment or revocation of the natural heritage area order under subsection (4)(b).

(9) In this section—

"bog habitat" means a habitat within the meaning of section 2 of the Principal Act that contains bog and, other than for the purposes of—

(a) publishing a notice under subsection (4)(a), and

(b) making an order under subsection (4)(b),

includes a candidate special area of conservation or a special area of conservation, within the meaning of Regulation 2 of the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 477 of 2011), that contains bog;

"environmental criteria"—

(a) in so far as it relates to a raised bog, means the conservation value of the raised bog taking into account a comparison made between the area, range, habitat, structure, function and ecological features of that raised bog and those of one or more than one other raised bog that is not or are not situated in a candidate special area of conservation or a special area of conservation, and

(b) in so far as it relates to a blanket bog, means the conservation value of the blanket bog taking into account a comparison made between the area, range, habitat, structure, function and ecological features of that blanket bog and those of one or more than one other blanket bog that is not or are not situated in a candidate special area of conservation or a special area of conservation;

"favourable conservation status" means the conservation status of a bog habitat when—

(a) its natural range and the areas it covers within that range are stable or increasing,

(b) the specific structure and functions which are necessary for its long-term maintenance exist and are likely to continue to exist for the foreseeable future, and

(c) the conservation status of its typical species is favourable;

"restoration potential" means both the potential for a bog to be restored to a favourable conservation condition, and the likelihood that measures taken to that end will be effective.]