Mr. Michael Starrett:

I thank the Chairman. On behalf of the chairman designate of the Heritage Council, Mr. Michael Parsons, and its members, I thank the committee for its invitation to address it today. I am joined by Ms Beatrice Kelly, who is the council's head of policy and research. For the committee's information, Ms Kelly is also currently the co-ordinator for the European year of cultural heritage. I will return to the significance of that role within the Heritage Council at the end of my contribution. I have circulated a detailed paper of the current work of the Heritage Council as regards today's theme of preserving Ireland's natural heritage, its flora, fauna and unique habitats. The Chair will be pleased to hear that I am going to follow the structure of that paper.

It is important to place the work of the Heritage Council in context. It is a statutory body. Pursuant to its responsibilities under its founding legislation, the council proposes policies and priorities for the national heritage. It works as a public service in the public interest. It advocates a very contemporary approach to heritage management, conservation and development. Contemporary heritage thinking is about people and the places they live, work and visit. It is about forming an interaction between those people, their nature and the culture that is inspired by that nature.

Above all, it is about trying to improve the quality of the places where people live and work and the places we encourage others to visit. Indeed, the Heritage Council recently submitted a draft of its emerging strategic plan to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. Three themes are identified in that plan, the working title of which is A Fresh Vision. All three of them are relevant to today's topic and to cultural heritage. The three themes are advancing national heritage priorities; nurturing a sense of belonging, identity and place; and ensuring a vibrant heritage sector.

At this point in the Heritage Council's development, I would equate it to a small to medium-sized enterprise. It has a budget of €6.2 million and 14 staff based in its national headquarters in Kilkenny. It creates and directly supports over 60 other full-time posts in satellite and other organisations around the country. Just 28 of those 60 posts are within the public sector. The rest of them are in the private sector. The Heritage Council's initiatives include heritage officers, the Discovery Programme, the National Biodiversity Data Centre, the Wicklow Uplands Council, the Bere Island development programme, the Burrenbeo Trust, Woodlands of Ireland, the Irish Walled Towns Network, the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland and the Irish Landmark Trust. Members will be interested to know that the last three bodies I mentioned are all-island bodies. The current Brexit situation may well have an impact on their work.

I am cognisant that I have just five minutes to summarise the detailed submission we have furnished to the joint committee. I will run through it very briefly from the section headed "Research, Enjoyment and Heritage Week" on page 2. The Heritage 1995 requires us to promote "enjoyment of the natural heritage", which is quite a task. The quality of research information and data is essential to informed decision-making. The Heritage Council has a very strong record of providing research to back up its actions and to help the Government to make decisions. The species decline figures that are set out in our submission paint a very sorry picture. Much of the information on species decline that is published by the National Parks and Wildlife Service comes through the National Biodiversity Data Centre, about which I will say more later in my contribution. People and communities want to change what is happening with regard to species decline. A piece of research we did in 2016 indicated quite clearly that 84% of people want to get involved in nature conservation to stop species decline and biodiversity loss.

It has been decided that the theme of this year's Heritage Week will be "It's in your nature". It is hoped that this will help local communities to get involved in doing something about their local natural heritage. The National Biodiversity Data Centre, which collates, manages, analyses and disseminates data on Ireland’s biodiversity, was established by the Heritage Council ten years ago following a proposal to the Minister of the day. Until that time, no scientific data were available to policymakers in Ireland to assist them in making informed decisions. The centre, which is based in County Waterford, operates through a service-level agreement with a biotechnology company, Compass Informatics and provides eight high-end jobs. It is recognised as the go-to place for biological information in Ireland. This information is freely accessible to the public at large and to policy makers, land managers and educational bodies. I will leave some samples of the publications produced by the centre with the committee.

Many members will be familiar with the heritage officer network, which is one of the Heritage Council's best-known initiatives. This country's 28 heritage officers are employed by local authorities to provide outreach and engagement at local level. This approach works because it is a national network supported by the Heritage Council. The heritage officers work collaboratively together and with the communities they support. This structure accounts for 25% of the Heritage Council's funding. We support the salaries of the heritage officers with the local authorities on the basis of them producing a community-led local heritage forum and a county heritage plan, which then attracts grant support.

High nature value farming is a participatory partnership with local farmers based on the design, development and implementation of local farming for conservation initiatives. As it is based on partnership, it contrasts greatly with the old-fashioned designation approach of imposition. The quality of natural heritage is an essential part of agricultural policy. High nature value farming, which is based on results, now operates very clearly in the Burren and on the Aran Islands. It was initially led by a Heritage Council initiative. Most recently, the programme has tried to ensure farming in Ireland receives workable and appropriately funded support under the Common Agricultural Policy 2014 to 2020. It has had some success in that regard. Our objective is to try to get high nature value farming recognised in the next Common Agricultural Policy round so that many more communities and local upland areas can benefit.

The development of the Wicklow Uplands Council and a series of Irish uplands partnerships is a practical example on the ground of where we have tried to make a difference by providing long-term regular support to local communities to allow them to achieve what they want to achieve within their countryside and landscape. Examples of the work of the Wicklow Uplands Council are listed in our submission. The most important and significant one in terms of today's discussion is the participatory approach to best management of the upland habitats in County Wicklow, which really centres on trying to resolve some of the problems of burning that we have recently encountered across the country. The Irish uplands partnerships are emerging as part of a new initiative that is being driven this year as part of an effort to spread the benefits of this approach into 25 upland areas throughout Ireland. The research material that has been provided to the joint committee contains a map that shows where those areas are. This approach is backed up by research with the communities on the ground and is strongly based on meeting the socioeconomic needs of upland communities and ensuring they are in a position to exploit the opportunities available to them and realise their potential.

All the Heritage Council initiatives I have mentioned offer potential. I have to say that the council's current capacity is enabling it to do little more than scratch the surface of its potential. We hope this situation will improve by increasing the council's capacity to support local initiatives. In 2015, the EU Commission stated:

How do we devise a more effective way of integrating the management of natural and cultural heritage? There is a growing awareness across Europe that nature and heritage management cannot be seen in isolation and need to be tackled in a more integrated way.

That is what the Heritage Council is trying to achieve. Ms Beatrice Kelly, as the national co-ordinator for the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018, will bring that message strongly to every corner of Ireland. There is a need to embrace new approaches and new ways and to find a fresh vision for heritage in rural, urban and peri-urban environments. The Heritage Council is trying to ensure the best possible information about all its work is available to the Government at local and national levels and available to the communities that put all Governments in place. All of this is needed if, collectively, we are to get this right for the people of this country and take the opportunities that are presented.