The Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 makes legal provision for the designation and protection of a national network of Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs).
The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) provides scientific appraisal and interpretative advice on such sites, while the NPWS have the responsibility of designation and management.
In identifying important sites that are capable of being conserved as NHAs, the GSI groups them by geological themes.
[1] By 2012 the GSI had completed its list of karst and early fossil sites, but the time frame for designation by NPWS was unknown.
[2] Meanwhile some geosites, such as Burren and Cliffs of Moher, had been designated Global Geoparks, part of a UNESCO assisted network.