River Basin Management Plan for Ireland River housing.gov.ie River Basin Management Plan for Ireland 2018 - 2021 Natura Impact Statement 2018 - 2021 Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government River Basin Management Plan - NIS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 LAYOUT OF THE NIS .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT FOR APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT ......................................................................... 2 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE AA PROCESS .......................................................................................................... 3 1.4 OVERLAP WITH THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE RBMP ......................................... 3 1.5 CONSULTATION .............................................................................................................................. 3 2 THE RBMP ........................................................................................................................ 9 2.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 9 2.2 APPROACH TAKEN TO DEVELOPING THE PLAN..................................................................................... 12 2.3 CONTENTS AND MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE PLAN ................................................................................ 14 3 ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 16 3.1 GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS ON AA ...................................................................................................... 16 3.2 GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND CASE LAW ............................................................................................... 17 3.3 STAGES OF APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................ 17 3.4 INFORMATION SOURCES CONSULTED ............................................................................................... 19 3.5 IMPACT PREDICTION...................................................................................................................... 19 4 OVERVIEW OF THE RECEIVING ENVIRONMENT ................................................................ 21 4.1 IDENTIFICATION OF EUROPEAN SITES ............................................................................................... 21 4.2 CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................... 24 4.3 CONSERVATION STATUS OF EU PROTECTED HABITATS AND SPECIES ...................................................... 25 4.4 EXISTING THREATS AND PRESSURES TO EU PROTECTED HABITATS AND SPECIES ...................................... 26 4.5 RELEVANT BIODIVERSITY POLICY ...................................................................................................... 28 5 STAGE 1 SCREENING FOR AA........................................................................................... 29 5.1 POTENTIAL FOR LIKELY SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ..................................................................................... 29 5.2 SCREENING FOR APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT CONCLUSION................................................................... 32 6 STAGE 2 APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT OF THE DRAFT RBMP ............................................. 33 6.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 33 6.2 APPROACH TO ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................... 33 6.3 IMPACT PREDICTION...................................................................................................................... 34 6.4 ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTS OF DRAFT RBMP ...................................................................................... 37 7 SCREENING OF CHANGES TO FINAL RBMP ....................................................................... 85 8 MITIGATION MEASURES / RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................... 137 MGE0618Rp0002F02 i River Basin Management Plan - NIS 9 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 143 10 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 144 APPENDICES Appendix A Consultation Submissions Appendix B Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) Republic of Ireland Appendix C Special Protection Areas (SPAs) Republic of Ireland Appendix D Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) Northern Ireland Appendix E Special Protection Areas (SPAs) Northern Ireland Appendix F Screening for Appropriate Assessment Appendix G EU Condition Assessment Appendix H Generic Threats and Pressures Considered Relevant to the RBMP Appendix I NPWS List of water dependent habitats and species LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2-1 River Basin Districts for the 1st Cycle of the WFD (2009 – 2015) ........................................... 9 Figure 2-2 Ireland’s River Basin Districts for the Second Cycle of WFD (2015 – 2021) ........................ 10 Figure 2-3 Proposed Governance and Co-ordination Structures .......................................................... 11 Figure 2-4 Water Framework Directive Cycle (Source: DECLG) ............................................................ 12 Figure 4-1 European Sites ..................................................................................................................... 23 MGE0618Rp0002F02 ii River Basin Management Plan - NIS LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1 Responses to SWMI Public Consultation ................................................................................ 4 Table 1-2 Issues Raised in SWMI Public Consultation............................................................................. 5 Table 1-3 Summary of sub-themes identified from the RBMP Public Consultation Process. Sub- themes are ordered with those more frequently raised listed first in each column. ............................ 7 Table 1-4 Summary of sub-themes identified from the LAWCO Public Consultation Process. Sub- themes are ordered with those more frequently raised listed first in each column. ............................ 8 Table 4-1 European Sites within the ZoI of the RBMP .......................................................................... 22 Table 5-1 Aspects of the plan with potential for significant effects ..................................................... 29 Table 6-1 Main Ecological Impacts Associated with the RBMP ............................................................ 36 Table 6-2 Rural diffuse and point source pollution .............................................................................. 38 Table 6-3 Urban Waste Water and Urban Run Off ............................................................................... 44 Table 6-4 Forestry ................................................................................................................................. 48 Table 6-5 Peatlands ............................................................................................................................... 51 Table 6-6 Aquatic and Riparian Invasive Alien Species ......................................................................... 54 Table 6-7 The Physical Condition of the Water Environment............................................................... 56 Table 6-8 Abstraction Pressures ........................................................................................................... 59 Table 6-9 Other Pressures ..................................................................................................................... 60 Table 6-10 Protected Areas and High Status Waters ............................................................................ 63 Table 6-11 Economic Analysis ............................................................................................................... 71 Table 6-12 In-Combination Impacts with Other Plans and Strategies .................................................. 75 Table 7-1 Rural Diffuse and Point Source Pollution .............................................................................. 86 Table 7-2 Urban Waster Water and Urban Run-off .............................................................................. 94 Table 7-3 Forestry ................................................................................................................................. 98 Table 7-4 The Harvesting of Peatlands ............................................................................................... 100 Table 7-5 Invasive Species................................................................................................................... 105 Table 7-6 Improving the Physical Condition of the Water Environment ............................................ 107 Table 7-7 Abstraction Pressures ......................................................................................................... 108 Table 7-8 Overview of Measures to Address Other Pressures ........................................................... 111 Table 7-9 Protected Areas and High