Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will ask the Minister to go back and formally check that with the Department and we will come back to the Deputy on the matter. Generally, the Government has taken a very significant initiative on wildlife, particularly with the creation of a new agency in the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, and a significant expansion of resources and staff. We are very anxious about the protection of biodiversity, which is central to this. As I said yesterday in the Dáil, we all, collectively, have to get a grip on the protection of biodiversity and the climate change agenda that faces us in the world. We as a country have to make our contribution to that. That also manifests itself in the work we have to do on wildlife and its protection.

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