141. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the reason the appropriate assessment screening produced by his Departmental officials for the Pollack Fishing Conservation Bye-Law (No. 1028) 2026 as required under the EU Habitats Directive for Special Area of Conservation (SAC) waters, was not produced by the responsible statutory body, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), or an independent ecology consultancy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51736/26]

There is no requirement in the Habitats Directive or in the Appropriate Assessment (AA) Guidance document published by the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) to have an AA Screening produced by a State body or independent ecology consultants.

Accordingly, the AA Screening for the Pollack Fishing Conservation Bye-Law No. 1028 of 2026 was undertaken by Departmental officials, in accordance with the above mentioned Guidance document.

As set out in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 18 of 17 June 2026, in preparing the AA screening, Department officials consulted with the Research and Development Division in Inland Fisheries Ireland to ensure that the screening was informed by appropriate scientific and ecological expertise.