Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is 100% correct that it is a real emergency and needs to be tackled. Right now, five local authorities - Fingal, which is my local authority, Wexford, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Dublin and Kerry - employ biodiversity officers, so there are 26 other local authorities where we have to get dedicated biodiversity officers in place. Neither I nor the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, want that role to be shared across other functions. It is crucial. There is a need to have a person at local authority level to bring communities and community activists, who are so prevalent on the ground, together. I refer to the work communities have done, such as in my area of Fingal, where rewetting programmes have been successfully completed. That work has been from the ground up and there is a need for a person at local authority level who is able to co-ordinate it. The allocation for 2022 is €600,000. I and the Ministers of State, Deputies Noonan and Burke, will be encouraging local government to fill those posts and get them up and running. We have a really good national biodiversity plan that needs implementation on the ground and we intend to do that.

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