Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I am delighted for the chance to speak on national parks and wildlife and the importance of protecting them. We have heard about where all the main national parks are, namely, Connemara, Glenveagh, Killarney, Kerry, the Wicklow mountains and the Burren. However, I live in County Laois. When you are in the midlands, we are a little bit left behind, so I do not have a national park to talk about. However, it is also important to talk about the other biodiversity and conservation areas under the remit of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. There are several nature reserve areas in my own constituency of Laois and locally we are seeing the effects of the crisis in climate and biodiversity. In Mountmellick, Coolrain Bog and the Slieve Bloom Mountains, habitats have declined significantly in recent years. In the Slieve Bloom Mountains in particular, the iconic hen harrier, a species that once thrived there, now teeters on the brink. Therefore, it is great that a Government response plan is being published to save the hen harrier from extinction. That is welcome but we cannot ignore that this should have happened long ago. Years of underinvestment and policy neglect have brought us to this point. I commend the work of Senator Noonan in this area - he is here with us - and I acknowledge and welcome the 15% increase for nature and heritage in budget 2026. That is really welcome.

While any increase in resourcing for the National Parks and Wildlife Service is to be welcomed, we cannot ignore the reality before us. The current state of our special areas of conservation and special protection areas across the country is deeply concerning. The vast majority of our country's vital habitats remain in an unfavourable condition, which is partly due to years of neglect and inadequate funding. I commend the tireless staff of the NPWS, as other people have. The rangers, ecologists and conservation officers do extraordinary work protecting our parks, our wildlife and our natural heritage. They are working on the front line of biodiversity recovery, often with limited resources and under immense pressure. However, we are still miles away from what is needed. When I went looking into this more deeply and reached out to some biodiversity experts in County Laois, the figures spoke for themselves. Some 85% of Ireland's habitats are inadequate or in poor condition and 63% of Irish bird species are now on a list of concern, with 37% amber listed and 26% red listed, which is something I just learned. There is a big job ahead. These numbers reflect a systemic failure to treat biodiversity and it is sad that this is the reality in which we are living.

Sinn Féin, in our alternative budget, committed to €12 million in additional funding for the NPWS for staffing, resourcing and improved enforcement, and €1.3 million to increase biodiversity officers in local authorities by 50%. We also proposed a €10 million dedicated fund to expand the number of public parks and national woodlands across the State so that areas like County Laois could be included. This fund would allow local authorities to apply for assistance in purchasing or developing parcels of land for public use, parks, green spaces and native woodland. It would also support environmental NGOs like the Native Woodland Trust to protect existing woodland, purchase adjoining lands for natural expansion and to invest in new afforestation sites.

Increasing the number of public parks, green areas and native woodland cover does not just protect the biodiversity. It sequesters carbon dioxide, improves air quality, enhances public health and strengthens our connection with nature. We also need to be looking to the future. We must deliver on the EU nature restoration fund approved last year. Sinn Féin has committed to establishing a €300 million dedicated nature restoration fund, providing new supports for our farmers outside of CAP. Farmers are going to play a central role in restoring nature over the coming years but they must be supported with new ring-fenced funding that does not undermine their CAP payments. Will the Minister of State please look at this one for us?

Ireland will hold the EU Presidency in 2026 and we should be leading from the front and not playing catch-up. We should be setting an example in restoring our habitats, rewilding our landscapes and protecting the species that make our island of Ireland so unique.

To sum up, we really welcome the increase in the NPWS resourcing because our environment and our wildlife cannot wait. We see that from the figures. It is time for ambition and for proper investment.

Finally, County Laois has lots of good land and we would be open to looking at a national park there.