James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, his departmental officials and the independent contributors on the work done on this review, which has identified several serious issues within the NPWS. I hope these will be addressed by the steps taken. It is great to see and very good news that a significant capital budget, of approximately €55 million, is being allocated over three separate cycles, in addition to what has already been put in place.

I am delighted to hear about some of the work, outlined in the report, on the hiring of additional staff. That is very welcome. I am conscious that I am here as a Deputy from Cork East, a section of the country that is not lucky enough to have its own national park. There are only six in the country. As a young person in the Chamber, I would like to see further investment and an effort made so that the south east, which is away from the west coast, where the majority of major national parks in the country are located, will have one of its own. I am referring to the eastern side of Ireland, south of Wicklow, and the southern part. There are many locations that I believe would benefit.

I am thinking of the Galtee Mountains and the Knockmealdowns, or the Comeraghs near the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's constituency. The Government could work with the NPWS in the long run to see if that is a possibility. Our national parks are extraordinarily important not only to the environment and from the perspective of promoting biodiversity and other environmental protection methods on protected lands, but also because of the benefit to the local economy and recreation. I am fortunate to enjoy many local amenities under the umbrella of many State agencies, but not the NPWS. That area, with a bit of work between the local authorities and the NPWS, as outlined in the strategic report, is quite exciting and much positive work could quite easily be done on it.

This report will do a number of good things if the implementation is carried through on, including tidying up management, which is important, giving the NPWS a good platform to grow and, particularly, looking at new locations for national parks. I reiterate the call, as a Cork Deputy and looking at neighbouring constituencies, to address the imbalance. It is a long way to the west of Ireland or to Wicklow for many of us in my region. I would like to see us working on that and procuring the additional budget. I commend the work done by the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, in that regard.

It is important to note that much important work goes into an area of conservation . I am conscious of that as somebody from a farming community. It is not often heard about in here. We heard the latest round of attacks on farming in Ireland from city dwellers in the Chamber a few minutes ago but we are conscious of the environment. It is important that that is said. We could put a strategy in place in conjunction with the NPWS to look at lands that become available neighbouring existing areas of special conservation. For example, in Youghal on the bog next to our beach, a significant amount of ground has become available. Much of it is marsh and there is much wildlife activity in the area. We could work with the NPWS and Cork County Council to secure that land for the use of the State, for protection and for the promotion of tourism in east Cork, as well as the environmental issues. It is right and proper that we look at opportunities to expand on existing assets of the State when it comes to the work the NPWS does.

It would be lovely to get a few extra national parks, though they are expensive and require years of planning. Will the Minister of State take that message back to the Department?

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