Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to talk about the NPWS and the wider issue of biodiversity, especially as this is National Biodiversity Week. I acknowledge all the work that is being done throughout our country by individuals, community groups, tidy towns and local authorities when it comes to education around biodiversity and the on-the-ground work that they are conducting in this regard. Every week should be biodiversity week. We should always put that level of appreciation into our natural world. I hope someday that we will achieve that in that biodiversity becomes so integral to who we are that we are constantly appreciating it to that level.

I also want to acknowledge and thank the Minister of State for the work that he has done on the NPWS. It was clear that significant reforms of the NPWS have been needed for many years. Successive Governments have not only failed to give the NPWS resources and financing, they have failed to give it the focus it warranted and deserved. The service has reflected that neglect. I appreciate the efforts that the Minister of State has put in to attempting to address that and to reform the service in order that it can provide the incredibly important function that we need it to do. I also acknowledge all the work of the staff at the NPWS because they are incredibly passionate about our environment but have not been given the support over many years to do that work.

Over the past 25 years, the NPWS has been moved across six Departments. Despite the Minister of State securing additional funding in the past couple of budgets, funding for the NPWS is still around the 2008 mark. Even then, it was a low base. A considerable amount still needs to be done with regard to this service. The structural changes and recommendations that have been made by Professor Stout and Dr. Ó Cinnéide will go a very long way to creating a top-class service that we really need.

One of the things that struck me about this, which I was very pleased to see, was the emphasis on our national parks. We talk about our national parks as being iconic. We use them to represent wildlife and our biodiversity and their potential but, unfortunately, to date we have not given them the emphasis that they need. We have not placed wildlife or biodiversity at the heart of what the NPWS does.

It is inconceivable that none currently has management plans in place. When the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, puts those management plans in place, I hope nature will be the key priority for those areas and that they are given the resources to function as such. They are important areas for tourism and recreation, but we need to get the balance right and to make sure that we have core areas within our country that are dedicated to nature which are highly protected. Areas are open to recreation, but that needs to be a key focus for what happens.

Since being elected, I have focused on biodiversity and climate, which are so interlinked that we cannot separate them. We often talk about the principle of just transition with regard to climate. We need to start talking about it with regard to biodiversity too. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan spoke about new career choices. When people go to a guidance counsellor and mention they want to be an ecologist, they should not be thrown out the door. When I went in and said that many years ago, it really was not seen as a viable job option. We need not only to identify it as a viable job option, but to look at how we can bring those jobs to rural Ireland as part of a just transition so that we are not only enhancing our biodiversity, but also our local communities and local economies. I would like to see that idea of a just transition being applied to biodiversity.

It has been a pleasure to listen to the debates today. Even over the last couple of years, one can see the emphasis that each individual party and politician gives to biodiversity has increased. We should continue with that. The Minister of State said that not only the Greens can be interested in biodiversity. I want to assuage any of his concerns that that is the case. The Social Democrats and I are passionate about this area. I look forward to working with the Minister of State, the Government and Opposition parties to ensure that we give it the emphasis and protection that it needs.

I would like to raise a few issues. One is the sense of urgency relating to biodiversity. We declared a crisis three years ago. Our bureaucratic processes are slow to catch up with the crisis that we are facing and the speed of decimation of the natural environment. We need to bring a sense of urgency. I also raise the wildlife crime unit. When I asked a parliamentary question about it, only one person was allocated to it. I would like to see that increase. I introduced the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill, relating to basking sharks, last year. It went to Second Stage last week. The Minister is introducing statutory regulations to deal with that. I would be interested to know where those are. Time is moving on and we are going through another season. We need to focus on that. I thank the Minister of State and the Government for getting the national parks review to this point. I look forward to seeing it progress.

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