Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue.

The proposed nature restoration law was formally adopted by the European Commission in June. The proposals set out legally binding targets in the form of a regulation that will have direct effect across a broad range of ecosystem types, both on land and marine. These proposed targets would require the restoration of parts of these ecosystems to good ecological status by set dates. The proposed regulation has the potential to impact across a number of Irish Departments. In Ireland’s case, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is responsible for co-ordinating Ireland’s response to the proposals.

The Commission’s proposals are now being discussed by the European Parliament and the Council. It is expected that discussions at Council and European Parliament level will run well into next year before the final regulation is agreed.

We continue to be proactively engage with the NPWS and I will continue to engage with my ministerial colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The key is that we are engaged actively on the matter and we are working hard at national and European level to ensure that our voices are being heard on the matter.

I am aware that farmers and their representatives are concerned about the potential of these proposals but I will work closely with them, as I always have done, to ensure that we will keep farmers doing what they do tremendously well, that is, producing food in a way that is world class and sustainable.

See this speech in context