WFD Referral Code Protect referral (DRAFT)  

Referral Date:  13/12/2021

PAA name  Bleach & Lough Graney Catchment

Significant Pressures Description: The EPA initial characterisation identified forestry as the significant pressure on the waterbody. 

Sediment is the significant issue.  Findings of LAWPRO 2019 stream walk assessments indicate that forestry is the sole significant sediment pressure here but SSIS results showed no significant impact at the EPA monitoring point. In March 2020, Conservation Services, an ecological consultancy, was commissioned by LAWPRO to carry out Q ratings at the EPA monitoring point. The Q-rating obtained was Q4-5. This indicates that Bleach 10 has recovered to at least Good Status. This protect referral is being issued to highlight additional mitigation measures that may be needed in advance of future felling to minimise risk of sediment loss to the river.   Waterbody Code IE_SH_25B070100

Waterbody Name Bleach_010    Referral point Bleach _010_Referral_01 Description of Referral Area Main channel and unmapped pathways (forestry drains) above the WFD monitoring point ‘Corlea Br.’

Forestry (Owner) Coillte    

Revised Appropriate Procedure

OCE-136328-V5X4B6 is the case number for a decision from the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information regarding a request for information on large pig herds. The case involved an appeal by Right to Know CLG against the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s refusal to release a register of pig herds with over 1,000 pigs. The Commissioner’s decision was that the information should be released, outweighing the public interest in withholding it.

Case details

Case Number: OCE-136328-V5X4B6
Public Body: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Appealing Party: Right to Know CLG
Subject: A request for a register of pig herds with over 1,000 pigs, including herd number and location 

Background and decision

Right to Know CLG requested the information in January 2023.
The Department initially withheld the information, citing the undue burden of  contacting all keepers and stating that the information was captured during the annual pig census.

Right to Know CLG appealed the decision to the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCE-136328-V5X4B6).

In its decision published on September 3, 2025, the Commissioner directed that the information be released.

The Commissioner found that the public interest in disclosing the environmental information outweighed the public interest in withholding i

OCE-136207-Y3Q4N3 Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCEI).

https://ocei.ie/en/ombudsman-decision/48305-right-to-know-clg-the-department-of-agriculture-food-and-the-marine-the-department

The case concerns a request by Right to Know CLG for information about large cattle farms from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The appeal was decided on September 2, 2025.

Case Number: OCE-136207-Y3Q4N3
Public Body: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Appellant: Right to Know CLG
Subject: A request for the herd numbers and locations of large cattle farms (over 500 cattle)
Date of Decision: September 2, 2025

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

Under the right of access please provide any correspondence between Ireland and the EU on the issue of compliance with the Habitats Directive

For the purposes of this request please only include the Year 2025

By way of background:

Ireland breached the EU Habitats Directive by failing to designate sufficient Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and implement site-specific conservation measures for its Natura 2000 sites. In 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled against Ireland in case C-444/21 for these failures, which occurred primarily by January 2019. The judgment highlighted that Ireland also failed to address a general and persistent infringement across its Natura 2000 network. In addition, Ireland has not acted to stop peat extraction in Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).

The European Commission has now told Ireland it “must demonstrate compliance” with the Habitats Directive when granting farmers a nitrates derogation. It is unclear how Ireland can demonstrate compliance as recent CJEU rulings show non compliance. Hopefully the correspondence will illustrate what is now required, as it is unclear from media coverage to date

Yours faithfully,

Right to Know CLG, Registered in Dublin, Ireland No. 565565
Registered Office: 25 Herbert Place, Dublin 2

AIE 081 2025

Under the AIE Regs to request

Copies of deer management plans for the following NPWS sites

• National Parks
• NPWS Nature Reserves

Please include any impact assessments, estimates of deer density/numbers, surveys, cull returns etc that would make up a deer management plan, where there is no single document available

Glenveagh National Park Woodland Management Strategy

A study and deer management plan for Glenveagh (Burkitt, 2017, 2018) reports deer densities of approximately 5.0–6.0 / km2 (range of 2.55 to 8.99 / km2).

A dedicated deer management team should be established within the Park with the sole purpose of implementing deer management, and having duties such as culling, monitoring, and maintaining fences. This should be made up of a minimum of 4 x full-time professional staff or Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) which may include a combination of a greater number of staff with other duties.

Deer management is best practised at a landscape scale and agreements should be reached with neighbouring landowners to extend the deer management area outside the Park boundaries.

The Monitoring and Assessment of four EU Habitats Directive Annex I Woodland Habitats

Upland Deer Survey Killarney NP: late summer 2024

NPWS Deer cull 2023-2025 Killarney NP

NPWS Deer cull 2020-2025 Wicklow NP

Note: response only covers cull returns for Killarney and Wicklow NPs, e.g. no deer shot in Glenveagh NP

Includes no deer management plans, impact assessments or cull returns on other NPs or on any of the NPWS reserves, eg Dowth Hall demesne (Meath), Glen of the Downs (Wicklow), Wild Nephin (Mayo), Knocksink Wood Nature Reserve (Dublin), Glendalough Nature Reserve (Wicklow) etc are not listed in the
Schedule at all.

The Scenar 2040 study assesses the medium-term impacts of broad “what if” scenarios assuming alternative trajectories for the CAP, offering quantitative insights to inform future policy considerations for the EU agricultural sector

Case Number: OCE-117836-T2D9W6

Independent Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland

Final Report
October 2025

Dr Viviane Gravey, Diane Ruddock, John McCallister