The 60 resident species listed on the EU Habitats Directive include all whale and dolphin species, all bat species, other mammals such as otter, hare and pine marten; eight plant species, seven invertebrate species, seven fish species and three amphibian and reptile species. These species are a small subset of Ireland’s full species complement, but many are important indicators of wider ecosystem health. Birds are not listed on this Directive, they are dealt under the Birds Directive. Ireland is a European stronghold for many of the listed species (e.g. otter (Lutra lutra) and petalwort (Petalophyllum ralfsii).
The status of Ireland's protected species is somewhat better than our habitats with 57% assessed as Favourable and 30% of assessed as being in Unfavourable status (i.e. Inadequate and Bad). 72% of species are demonstrating stable or improving trends since the last assessment in 2013 while 15% are demonstrating on-going declining trends.
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