Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House to discuss this legislation. As we have heard, the Bill will allow for the transfer of functions relating to heritage to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Notwithstanding my concerns regarding the constant moving of the National Parks and Wildlife Service from pillar to post over the years, it is at least somewhat reassuring that there is now a Minister of State such as Deputy Noonan, who clearly cares a great deal about the brief. Sinn Féin will not oppose the Bill, but I will outline a number of areas I hope the Minister of State will prioritise in his role.

The first relates to the status of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. A review into this is under way but I add my voice to that of the Irish Wildlife Trust in calling for the service to be placed on a similar statutory footing to that of the EPA. For too long, the NPWS has been underfunded and its research ignored. This has impacted on morale within the organisation and has also negatively impacted on our biodiversity. One such example is that of Killarney National Park and its management of rhododendron. For more than 20 years, Groundwork ran a science-based, systematic clearance of the invasive plant from some of our most important ancient oak woodlands.I am very familiar with the scheme as I worked as both a volunteer and an employee of Groundwork. Despite all of the evidence showing that the Groundwork approach worked, in its wisdom Killarney National Park halted Groundwork in 2005 and adopted a system of leaving dead rhododendron standing in situ or in piles. There is strong evidence to suggest that this policy contributed to the devastating fires that we witnessed last month. The National Parks and Wildlife Service manual No. 33 clearly referred to standing dead rhododendron as a potential fire hazard. It also referred to the need for fire breaks around dead rhododendron hedges. Despite this clear advice from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Killarney National Park 2018 management plan is a direct contradiction to the service and states that there is no requirement for rhododendron brash management. I hope that a future National Parks and Wildlife Service will be able to ensure that its advice is not just advisory but carries legal weight that must be heeded by national park management. I hope the National Parks and Wildlife Service will be given the enforcement powers it requires to tackle wildlife crime.

I raise the need for marine protection zones to be implemented in parallel with the marine planning framework. We cannot have a situation whereby planning permission will be granted for large offshore wind farms before we have designated our most important marine wildlife zones. We have to ensure there is a marine inspectorate body established to ensure that the construction, operation and any future decommissioning of offshore wind farms is done with the highest possible environmental and biodiversity protections. Not only is that good for our marine wildlife but it will also ensure we have fewer planning objections and therefore bring our offshore wind capacity online as fast as possible to meet our climate targets.

I implore that the biodiversity data centre find a permanent home within the Heritage Council so we retain the expertise of the researchers and the data they collect. Such an important resource cannot continue on a service level agreement. It is bad for the morale of the researchers and for retention of that expertise within the Department.

I raise the matter of Moore Street and ask the Minister of State to ensure that the plan for the 1916 cultural quarter, as set out by my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, and unanimously supported by all parties, is implemented.

We support this Bill, which will see the Minister of State receive all of his functions, but I ask that he give the matters outlined by me his utmost attention.