Dr. Ciaran Byrne:

I thank the Deputy for the question. I have as much a professional as a personal interest in this area. The number of swifts has declined catastrophically. The number of bird species generally, since the 1970s, has declined catastrophically. The short answer is that it is not something we look at in detail at present. To get into the biology of this, swifts often lose their nests when homes are externally retrofitted but they can rebuild the nests. There is nothing stopping them. There is a really interesting initiative with Birdwatch Ireland I came across, whereby swift boxes are pinned up and aligned over the retrofit. That helps biodiversity. We have to look into this more. As for our current schemes and what we can do, there are bat roofs and so on. They are probably more for heritage buildings. Bats and many other species are protected under the various Wildlife Acts, so certain works cannot be done while there are bats in place. There are probably separate procedures in respect of wildlife regarding heritage buildings, but the Deputy's point is really well made and it is something we will look into.