Dáil debates
Thursday, 24 June 2021
Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions
National Parks and Wildlife Service
10:00 am
Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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11. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the breakdown of conservation ranger vacancies nationwide over the past two years by region; the length of time the positions have remained unfilled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33646/21]
Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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46. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of plans for the recruitment of new National Parks and Wildlife Service conservation rangers as part of the expansion of the service, in particular in relation to the filling of roles in the Waterford area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33645/21]
Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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These questions are two sides of the same coin and deal with conservation ranger vacancies in the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. The first deals with historical vacancies, the ones that have not been filled for quite some time and asks why that is the case. The second deals with future opportunities and asks what posts will be created and how we plan to recruit for them. I am particularly interested in the area of west Waterford which has been lacking a ranger for a long period.
Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 46 together.
Given the enforcement role of certain staff in the NPWS and for reasons of operational security, the Department cannot provide details of staffing in the manner requested and I hope the Deputy will appreciate that.
My Department's workforce planning process does not identify vacancies per se across different work sectors, whether arising from retirement or other factors but seeks to identify gaps in service delivery that can be addressed on a priority basis in light of available resources. Staffing levels across the Department, including conservation rangers, are kept under regular review in line with emerging business needs and Government policy on public sector pay and staffing, as advised by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
I have previously confirmed that the filling of up to 60 conservation ranger posts, announced by the Minister in Killarney National Park a number of weeks ago, is a priority for the Department within the requirements of the policy on public sector pay and staffing. A national recruitment process for conservation rangers was advertised late last year and is being managed by the Public Appointments Service, PAS. The process is at an advanced stage, with a panel of successful candidates now in place and the first 20 currently being assigned to locations around Ireland, including Waterford.
Front-line conservation rangers are deployed through a regional structure and assignments are determined in light of departmental business needs and priorities. A calibrated proportion of the expansion of the ranger cohort will be assigned to the Waterford area and similarly across the country. While it is too early to be specific as to the exact number of additional rangers to be assigned to the Waterford area, the proportion of rangers will be pitched at a level to meet local conservation needs and will be based on the outcome of the recruitment process.
I want to use this opportunity to say that we were delighted with the additional intake of rangers this year. We had initially proposed an intake of 20 rangers and there was an initial ten in that. Thanks to the work of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, we were able to up that figure to 60, which is badly needed. Boots on the ground are what we need across the country if we are to tackle the biodiversity crisis.
From visiting our national parks in recent weeks, I want to pay tribute to our conservation rangers and staff in the NPWS across the country. They have done an incredible job throughout the Covid pandemic. Our national parks and nature reserves were open in order to provide refuge and solace to people throughout what has been an incredibly difficult 15 or 16 months. They had to reconfigure our spaces and introduce different systems to manage social distancing. The huge numbers who attended and visited our parks are testament to the great work that has been done by our staff. I was in Connemara last week to see the fantastic work that was done there and the Minister and I were in Killarney National Park following the fires. I pay tribute to our staff on the ground there who managed that difficult situation so well.
We know we are in a biodiversity emergency and that the additional rangers we will take on in the coming months will provide a valuable service, including in the area of west Waterford, which Deputy Ó Cathasaigh has raised. We have a major job of work to do and I am confident that with the additional resources provided through budget 2021 for the NPWS; we will be in a better place where we can meet those demands and manage our national parks in a way that is a safe and happy experience for visitors but that is also good for nature and biodiversity. We are grateful to the organisations throughout the country that partner with our national parks to make them as good an experience for people as possible and to make them safe refuges for nature as well.
10:10 am
Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State for that response. As he will know, Green Party representatives are often the first port of call if something is happening that people identify within their environment that they have a problem with. The speed of reaction is so important because once the tree is cut down, the nest is lost or the hedge is grubbed out - that is it. It is a damage that cannot be undone. That speed and those boots on the ground that the Minister of State talks about are vitally important. I would have come across a number of particularly egregious acts in west Waterford but because there was an absence of a conservation ranger and because the county council is overstretched in this department, by the time there was an official State reaction the damage was done and it could not be undone or unpicked. I welcome this announcement of 60 rangers but I want clear details and timelines on when those posts will be filled.
Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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As I stated, the first intake of 20 rangers will be deployed in the coming weeks. On the specific issue of responding to particular incidents, yesterday the Minister and I were able to sign off on a memorandum of understanding with An Garda Síochána on tackling wildlife crime. This will bring a more strategic approach to the work we are doing. Later this year we will establish a dedicated wildlife crime unit within the NPWS, which is a first for this country. That will add additional resources and bring a much more strategic approach to tackling wildlife crime in the preservation of crime scenes and in preparing books of evidence. We have had a number of high profile prosecutions in wildlife crime in the last year and that is down to the dedication and hard work of our NPWS staff throughout the country. I assure the Deputy that we will meet that staffing requirement in the coming months and it will have a significant impact in collaboration and in working with agencies on the ground.
Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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That is welcome and the wildlife crime unit in particular is a very welcome move from this Government which shows that we are beginning to take this biodiversity crisis seriously. I know there was a historical issue that made it difficult to fill vacancies and that is why that issue in west Waterford existed according to my information.
In recruiting these rangers, the other thing I would like to impress on the Minister of State is that we have to make these sustainable and good jobs. We are talking about highly qualified people who are often very motivated and who are drawn into the field because of a particular love of biodiversity or our natural world. We also have to make sure that this is a proper and sustainable career choice. We have to make sure that the terms and conditions are such that we are paying qualified people at a rate that it will make sense for them to continue that on and to take the conservation of our wildlife and natural world very seriously as a career choice into the future.
Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge Deputy Ó Cathasaigh for tabling this question and I also want to acknowledge the work of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, on this. It is a very important development that additional boots on the ground, as the Minister of State put it, will be in place. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for coming to Killarney so swiftly recently in the aftermath of the devastating fires there. I want to emphasise how important it is that those personnel would be put in place without delay. There has been historical underinvestment in front-line personnel going back quite some while. The posts that have been announced are welcome but I suspect that we will probably need to increase the numbers of personnel on the front line over the coming years. I acknowledge again the fine work that is taking place. I understand that the Minister of State has been to Killarney National Park twice already. It is clear to see his enthusiasm and natural interest in the area and I thank him for all the work he is doing.
Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I have been there three times and will hopefully be back there again to see the natterjack toads in a few weeks time. To respond to Deputies Griffin and Ó Cathasaigh on the sustainability of the jobs, as the Deputies will be aware we are in a process of reviewing the NPWS. Hopefully the outcome of that review will look at the sustainability of career paths within the NPWS. In Connemara last week, we met some of our staff who are retiring after 30 or 40 years of service, some of whom would have come in at an operational grade and moved their way up. The opportunity is there for people to have sustainable and viable careers in the NPWS and we are very grateful to our staff and to our partners on the ground, including the chambers of commerce in Connemara and Killarney. This is a partnership approach and that collaboration will be required to tackle this crisis. I am also conscious, as Deputy Griffin said, that this will require resources, not just this year but next year and into the next decade, which is the decade of ecosystem restoration. That is critically important for biodiversity in this country.