Ms Ciara O'Mahony:

I thank members for the invitation to attend this committee, to discuss the Coastal Lagoons: Ecology and Restoration, CLEAR, report prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency, identifying the serious water quality problems in Lady’s Island Lake. The NPWS and the Environmental Protection Agency cofunded this report. It may be helpful to first set out the role of NPWS a regards water quality at Lady’s Island Lake.

As the State’s nature conservation body with responsibility for implementing the birds and habitats directives, the NPWS designates lands and waters as protected areas for nature conservation, sets conservation objectives for their management and reports to the European Commission on the condition of protected habitats and species. Lady’s Island Lake is designated as a special area of conservation, SAC, for lagoon and other habitats, and as a special protection area, SPA, for a number of bird species, including four species of tern that nest on islands in the lake.

While the regulations that implement the birds and habitats directives - the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations SI 477 of 2011 - assign roles, including the designation process, to the Minister, the regulations are also clear that where responsibilities have been assigned to another public authority, those responsibilities remain with that public authority. The NPWS's role is further qualified as to "consult with, co-operate with, advise, assist and seek the assistance" of other public authorities. So, all public authorities have responsibility for ensuring their roles and functions, such as the regulation of land use or discharges in respect of water quality, achieve compliance with the directives and the implementing regulations, and support the achievement of the conservation objectives for protected areas. NPWS is proactive in reaching out to these authorities by liaising either nationally or locally as appropriate. For Lady’s Island Lake, this includes attending national and local operational committees for implementation of the water framework directive and by direct liaison with Wexford County Council, LAWPRO, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and others.

Additionally, the new LIFE Strategic Nature Project for Ireland, SNaP, co-ordinated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service with our, partners the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Coillte, will invest in new data systems to underpin biodiversity decision-making that will support planning, funding and delivery for nature conservation and restoration. In time, the project will specifically include building capacity in lagoon expertise and will deliver a national coastal lagoons restoration strategy for Ireland, with initial work planned for Lady’s Island Lake SAC and Tacumshin Lake SAC. Restoration measures on these lagoons will be delivered using a multi-agency approach, involving the NPWS, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Wexford County Council, in close collaboration with landowners and surrounding communities. Concrete conservation measures will be delivered in Lady’s Island Lake under the direction of the coastal lagoons expert to be recruited over the lifetime of the SNaP. Nature conservation projects are also being delivered by NPWS locally at Lady’s Island Lake, with a high degree of support and co-operation from landowners and the local community, which is greatly appreciated and acknowledged here today. Each year, with landowner permissions, the NPWS arranges daily wardening of the internationally important tern colonies nesting on islands in Lady’s Island Lake. Associated with this is NPWS’s role in cutting a drainage channel through the seaward barrier each spring to drop water levels around the island in time for nesting season. This is done with permission from, and on behalf of, Our Lady’s Island Lake drainage committee. The NPWS, along with staff from the Botanic Gardens of the Office of Public Works, manages a project to save the last remaining population of cottonweed in Ireland or the UK, which is found on the seaward barrier of the lagoon. The NPWS has also recently installed monitoring equipment in the lagoon to measure water level, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and salinity and has commissioned a survey of two rare lagoon plant species: foxtail stonewort and bearded stonewort.

The NPWS welcomes this discussion of water quality problems in Lady’s Island Lake lagoon and that the potential solutions are being discussed. Pollution is identified in the CLEAR report as arising in the wider catchment, and in particular through surface run-off from farmed land.

While existing farming schemes are in place nationally, the NPWS is supportive of the ambition to deliver new, tailored and additional agri-environment solutions in the catchment, and we are willing to work with our colleagues in other public authorities to achieve this ambition.