Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I would like to thank the committee for the invitation to provide an update of the work across the heritage and electoral reform divisions of our Department. As members can see, I am joined today by colleagues from across the heritage and electoral reform divisions. It has been an extremely busy 18 months since I took office. Much has been achieved to date and, notwithstanding my presentation today, there is much more to do.

The immense and urgent challenge of addressing biodiversity loss is now being felt across all levels of society and the need to conserve and restore our historic built heritage and national monuments has never been more prominent. Similarly, we are seeing unprecedented and timely attention on the issue of electoral reform as we seek to build resilience in our democratic systems to meet the unique challenges of the 21st century.

I would like to start by acknowledging the great work that this committee has been doing to support the work across this Department, ably chaired by my party colleague, Deputy Matthews. I expect to see much more of members over the coming year as we progress our legislative and policy agenda, including the monuments and archaeological heritage Bill, the Electoral Reform Bill 2020, Heritage Ireland 2030 and the fourth national biodiversity action plan.

My work in this role and that of my colleagues across the Department is to protect, conserve, restore and manage Ireland’s heritage. This includes its biodiversity, such as habitats, species, and natural heritage, its built heritage, historic buildings and structures, and the precious national monuments and archaeological features. This is for the benefit of present and future generations and, particularly with regard to nature, for its own sake, independent of the value people place upon it.

Under this programme, the 2022 allocation of a very significant €133.5 million will allow my Department to progress an expanded programme of biodiversity investment and the restoration and conservation of protected peatlands, including raised bog compensation schemes in line with national biodiversity and climate action objectives. It will continue to support the protection of our archaeological and built heritage. It will allow us to invest in and support Ireland's national parks and reserves. We will be able to continue to monitor habitats and species as required under the birds and habitats directives and to advance with the delivery of conservation projects under the EU's programme for environment and climate action, LIFE, and other funding instruments, including the conservation and restoration of protected natural heritage areas, NHAs, and an expanded farm plan programme. It will allow us to accelerate the conservation measures programme to enhance protections and supports for nature at more than 600 Natura 2000 sites across Ireland. In addition, we will maintain and invest in waterways for 15,000 registered boat users through Waterways Ireland and support the investment in cross-Border initiatives under the Shared Ireland, Shared island initiative and New Decade, New Approach, NDNA, agreement, such as the Ulster Canal and the Narrow Water Bridge.

Under the programme for Government, there is a commitment to review the remit, status and funding of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, to ensure that it plays an effective role in delivering its overall mandate of enforcement role and protection of wildlife. The primary determinant of an effective response to that commitment is resourcing. I secured additional monies in the 2020 July stimulus, significantly increased NPWS funding by almost 50% in budget 2021. This week, I announced that NPWS funding will increase yet again, to more than €47 million in 2022, a total increase of 64% since I became Minister of State, bringing it back to a level not seen since before the financial crisis.

The NPWS review is under way and consists of a comprehensive three-phase process: Review, Reflect, Renew: A Strategic Action Plan for the Future of the NPWS. It has been designed to define exactly what is needed as well as developing an action plan to renew the NPWS and ensure it is equipped to respond to Ireland’s biodiversity emergency now and in the decades to come. The orientation, or review, part of this process commenced in February 2021 under the direction of Professor Jane Stout from Trinity College Dublin as chair and Dr. Micheál Ó Cinneide, deputy chair, formerly of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. The independent reviewers heard from more than 3,000 people and groups providing an external perspective on some specific aspects of the NPWS in conducting an analysis of comparable organisations across Europe to inform a suite of recommendations.

The next phase, reflect, is taking account of outcomes of the outcomes of the Stout-Ó Cinneide work and then synthesise the resourcing gains of the past 18 months with a detailed expert analysis of governance, organisational structures, communications, data systems and future resourcing, and outline the NPWS's specific requirements across these areas. The final phase, renew, will detail the objectives and prioritise actions that will equip the NPWS to deliver on the ambitious goals, objectives and targets emerging from our programme for Government, the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the EU biodiversity strategy towards 2030, Heritage Ireland 2030 and the new national biodiversity action plan and to be the respected voice for nature that so many have called for.

Our national parks and nature reserves have never been busier, nor have they been such a refuge as in the challenging days of the pandemic. I commend all of our heritage staff, who were deemed essential workers from the outset, and who played a cathartic role in providing those beacons of tranquillity, beauty, safety and amenity, never missing a day for the past two years. I also want to acknowledge that while we are all safe inside today, many NPWS and National Monument Service colleagues are out in the elements of Storm Barra, providing vital health and safety cover at our heritage sites throughout the country.

Some €6.5 million in capital funding was provided in 2021 for the maintenance, development, management and operations of our 87,000 ha network of national parks, nature reserves and other conservational and recreational nature heritage sites. During 2021, this funding has facilitated more than 300 individual projects, ranging from infrastructural repairs, improvements to extending visitor facilities and the upgrading of trails, to habitat restoration and invasive species removal.

A particular highlight for me this year was the continuation of the white-tailed eagle reintroduction programme. During the summer, 21 Norwegian-born eagle chicks were imported into Ireland from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and subsequently released into the wild. Returning this lost keystone species to Irish skies will be a huge step in improving Irish conservation efforts by restoring a top predator to the ecosystem and will benefit Irish biodiversity more broadly. The success of this programme is thanks to the ongoing co-operation of many stakeholders who are working together to restore a lost element of Ireland’s natural heritage. My family and I had the privilege of attending the release of the white-tailed eagles at Lough Derg a number of months ago and it was a very special occasion. Again, I pay tribute to our own NPWS staff who manage and oversee the project and also the assistance of other interested parties, such as the Irish Farmers' Association, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and, in particular, local landowners and farmers, without whose enthusiastic support in monitoring nest sites and care of birds, the project could not succeed.

Biodiversity underpins all life on earth. Yesterday, I was delighted to announce €2.1 million in funding for biodiversity initiatives by local authorities, including €1.5 million for the local biodiversity action fund and €600,000 for the next phase of the biodiversity officers programme for local authorities.

This represents a 300% increase in the fund since 2019 and recognises that local authorities are vital in addressing our biodiversity loss and protecting, enhancing and restoring habitats and species through the implementation of the national biodiversity action plan. I want to ensure biodiversity officers are in a position to lead on the delivery of strategic actions for biodiversity at the local level, supported by strong connections with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, and the necessary networks and resources to enable them to do such great work.

I am happy to say that, on 4 November, I received Government approval for the establishment of a new national biodiversity data centre as a company limited by guarantee, subject to oversight by the Heritage Council, with a purpose to collect, record and maintain data on Ireland's biodiversity and make them available to the public. The creation of this new company will support the consolidation of relationships across government and provide sufficient flexibility to develop new programmes responding to the unique challenges climate change poses for agriculture and other sectors.

On the subject of our built heritage and as most of the committee knows, my Department provides financial support for the protection of heritage buildings, historic structures and archaeological monuments through three capital grant schemes that are, in the main, administered by local authorities. These are the built heritage investment scheme, BHIS, the historic structures fund, HSF, and the community monuments fund, CMF, which was recently announced. This year, total funding of €6 million was awarded to 562 projects under the BHIS and HSF. In addition, the CMF awarded €4.2 million to 139 projects carried out over the course of the year. These schemes touch every county in the country, providing local employment and much-needed economic stimulus. The 2022 schemes were launched this month and are now open to applications, with a combined funding pot of €13 million, which is an increase on last year's.

In conjunction with the Heritage Council, my Department delivers the historic towns initiative, which is providing €1.5 million to a number of towns in 2021, including Ballyshannon in Donegal, Listowel in Kerry, Sligo town, Roscommon town, Ballina in Mayo, Birr in Offaly, Tramore in Waterford and Callan in my own county of Kilkenny. I am delighted to say this successful initiative will run again in 2022 and will be open to applications in the coming weeks. This year, it will also seek to address the issue of vacancy and residential reuse of heritage properties in line with the Government's commitments under Housing for All.

We continue to make strides in new legislation and policy. As members may be aware, the Cabinet just last week approved the referral of the new draft monuments Bill to this committee for pre-legislative scrutiny. I look forward to working with members on that over the coming months.

Later this week, I will launch our new vernacular architectural strategy, A Living Tradition. This contains clear, well-considered and fully deliverable actions as well as engaging and informative background information on Ireland's vernacular built heritage. I will be more than happy to provide copies to members of the committee early next week. We would all agree it makes sense to rehabilitate buildings that are actually standing and bring disused ones back into use where this can be done in a way that respects the buildings and the communities that created them.

The purpose of our new national policy on architecture is to support and promote architectural quality and sustainability. It will contain policy actions to encourage best quality in researching, understanding, designing, managing, enhancing and reusing our existing built environment assets as well as delivering sustainable new places and spaces. A draft policy has been prepared and is now going to copy editor for further refinement ahead of publication.