Ms Suzanne Nally:

Yes, of course. The National Parks and Wildlife Service strongly encourages locally led and community-led conservation efforts.

It has done so through the variety of projects and schemes it operates. The peatlands community engagement scheme, one such scheme, was launched recently by the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. It intends to encourage local communities to restore, revitalise, conserve or put in place local amenities or undertake feasibility studies, a range of ecological reviews or any projects that would contribute to positive action for peatlands, as such. That is in addition to other programmes the National Parks and Wildlife Service supports, such as the Community Foundation for Ireland, to which Mr. Lemass referred. We also provide funding for a network officer for the all-island climate and biodiversity research network. We also provide funding directly to local authorities for biodiversity action. There are a range of supports and initiatives already in place to support community-led conservation and actions that contribute to national conservation plans and the national climate action plan.