Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion from the Green Party Members of Seanad Éireann. I welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, has this portfolio and wish her well in her role. I also wish her well in her work to marry together the very real challenges, pressures and realities of life in Ireland and the need for our country to react to the threats to our habitats and ecological life while also respecting the industries that work within it.

The motion commits to protecting nature by providing sufficient support to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, and reviewing the service's remit and structure. The reference to a review of the remit and structure of the NPWS is interesting because the challenges faced by our natural habitats are not just caused by humans but also by nature itself, including other invasive species. I cite in particular the erosion of huge parts of our woodlands in the National Park in Killarney by the invasive species, rhododendron. In this case, human interference is positive with dedicated men and women doing back-breaking work to clear the rhododendron.However, there is a long-running issue and tension between the NPWS and the volunteers on the ground in Killarney, who have been clearing the rhododendrons for four decades. The volunteers on the ground know the ecology of the area very well. I met several of them during the summer, including the O’Donoghue family who operate the tour of the lakes in Killarney, and then in the evenings and weekends go out with other volunteers to do that back-breaking work to clear the rhododendrons because they value the area and are passionate about it. However, they are also very aware of protecting the area because they make their living from the tourism industry, as do so many in County Kerry, and they want to make sure they have a vibrant industry. There is a problem between the collaboration of the volunteer groups and the NPWS on this work.

The impact of the relentless erosion of woodlands by this invasive species is unbelievable. It is causing devastation to the ecological balance and to the habitat of many different species in the first national park established in this country. The destruction of the national park by this invasive species had been brought under control many years ago but the problem exploded again and in recent years volunteer groups have cleared hundreds of hectares of rhododendron from half a dozen of Killarney's most valuable woods. Volunteers have stressed the need for them to be able to go back in and conduct surveys and sweeps of the cleared areas to make sure the rhododendrons are not returning from dormant seeds. This request was not facilitated. That is the issue in that part of the motion and the power struggle with officialdom.

A couple of years ago The Irish Timescarried a special major feature by Paddy Woodworth on the threat to our national park. It featured a quote from Therese Higgins who stated:

The issue is not who does the work ... but ... whether the cleared areas stay clear. I can see no way forward as long as NPWS conservation work is not directed by science.

The motion calls for the strengthening of the NPWS, but I do not want a strengthening of officialdom and the system if it is not working collaboratively with those who are trying to protect the ecology of the area who know it best. I accept that it is not just motivated by ecological reasons but commercial tourism reasons as well. If the jewel in the crown of Ireland's national parks is allowed to be destroyed because of a power struggle, tourists will never return to Kerry, pandemic or no pandemic.

I urge the Minister of State to address the issue in her closing remarks. I support the motion, which is very nuanced and very well thought out and researched. We can empower a lot of people to do work and find that the net result does not give us what we set out to do in the first place. I urge these Houses to listen to the people on the ground on many different topics. They are helping communities at the coalface.