Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators who contributed to the debate for their comments and kind words. I thank Senator Garvey for what she said about the Department's work. I thank Senator Fitzpatrick for what she said about the new city development plan. It is vitally important that development plans are aligned. I give my absolute commitment on Moore Street.

Senator Cummins inquired about biodiversity officers. It is our commitment to roll out those positions over the lifetime of the Government. Funding is in place this year to do a certain amount of that work, but it is our objective over the lifetime of the Government to try to have a biodiversity officer in every county.

Senator Boylan raised a number of important issues on the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The review is ongoing, and it will take some time. We are due to have a report at the end of June from Professor Stout and Dr. Micheál Ó Cinnéide. I take on board that the structure will be determined by the outputs of the report. There has been a significant level of engagement. Rhododendron management in Killarney National Park has been widely raised. We have ongoing meetings regarding it. I have read some of the reports and it is something to which we will give consideration.

The wildlife crime unit will be established later this year. There is a good, positive alignment between marine protected areas and marine planning legislation, and I hope we will be in a position to highlight that in the coming weeks and months. The public consultation on marine protected areas is still ongoing. I give my firm commitment that we are working with the Heritage Council on the future of the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Similarly, the issue of Moore Street has been raised.

On Committee Stage I will address the issues raised by Senator Higgins, and Senator Burke's reference to planning applications being in public. Councillors have the right to make submissions on planning applications, the same as members of the public. Reference was made to discussing development plans over Zoom. We are all tired of Zoom, but there is a significant role for e-planning, and we should look at some of its merits and good outcomes. In particular, online meetings have helped councillors with time management. Some counties have done very well with the management of development plans over Zoom. I thank Senator Ahearn for the issues he raised about Knocklofty House.

Ireland's heritage, built and natural, cultural, linguistic, tangible and intangible, is of fundamental importance to all aspects of society, our identity, well-being and economy. However, heritage faces many challenges, including those stemming from land use change, climate change and biodiversity loss and dereliction through a lack of awareness of the value of heritage. The Government is making a significant investment in the heritage sector with a view to addressing biodiversity loss, habitat restoration and species protection. It is also undertaking essential investment in national parks, nature reserves, heritage estates and national monuments. For example, earlier this year, funding of €1.35 million was announced for local authority biodiversity projects, including €500,000 for projects targeting invasive alien species in their areas. The significant funding increase in 2021 to €1.89 million means the National Parks and Wildlife Service farm plan scheme has been expanded. The sum of €14 million has been allocated to conservation management and restoration of protected raised bogs in 2021.

National parks and nature reserves have remained open for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been important to keep this 87,000 ha network accessible to the public to provide areas where people can get fresh air, experience nature and exercise while still being able to adhere to physical distancing protocols.

The intention of the Planning and Development, Heritage, Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill is not to alter existing Government policy or to introduce new policy, it is a technical Bill, the primary function of which is to facilitate the transfer of the heritage powers and functions to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage under a number of enactments which are currently held by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media. In that regard, the overall objective is to give legislative underpinning to the full transfer of these powers and functions to the Minister through amending certain primary and secondary legislation, as required. Some of the proposed amendments set out in the Bill have been prepared to allow for the amended section of the relevant European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 to function without further amendment in the event that the ministerial heritage functions were at some future time separated again from the planning functions. Section 13 amends section 16(2)(a) of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 and section 14 amends the designations of the sites of special areas of conservation and special protection areas and the directions and provisions of the 2011 regulations. We are working hard to deliver on the ambitions set out in the programme for Government with respect to heritage.