Environmental Indicators Ireland 2018

• The Irish index of common birds increased from 100 in 1998 to 121.5 in 2016.

• A European index of common farmland birds, based on data for up to 39 species and 17 EU Member States is available for the years 2000-2014. The EU average has declined from a base of 100 in 2000 to 84.3 in 2014.

• Ireland, at 6.1% in 2016, had the joint second smallest area in the EU designated as terrestrial Special Protected Areas (SPA’s) under the EU Birds Directive. Croatia, at 30.1% had the largest area of land classified as terrestrial SPA’s in 2016.

• In 2016, Ireland had 13.2% of its land area designated as terrestrial Special Areas of Conservation (SAC’s) under the EU Habitats Directive. This was the eight smallest rate in the EU and below the European average of 18.2%. Slovenia, at 37.9% had the highest share of SAC’s compared with its total land area.

• Ireland had 761 national monuments in 2017. County Galway had the highest number at 88.

There were 43,073 protected structures recorded in Ireland in 2016. Of these 11,971 or 28% were in Dublin.