Malcolm Noonan (Green Party)

Go raibh maith agat. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I continue to wish him good fortune in his Ministry. For me, as outgoing Minister of State, it has been fantastic to see that Deputy O'Sullivan has hit the ground running and is a Minister of State who cares for nature. To get it in two Government cycles is good for biodiversity, I have to say, and I wish the Minister of State continued success.

In the 93 years since our first national park was founded when the Muckross estate was handed over to the people of Ireland in Killarney, we have lost a huge amount, as the Minister of State will be aware, of our native habitats, semi-natural grasslands, woodlands, bird species and peatlands and we have a disconnected, fragmented habitat network right across the country, as has been said by the previous speaker. Our national parks give us a representative sample of what we should have in terms of the connectivity of nature. Up to 2024, we had six national parks. I was in the fortunate position to have brought Brú na Bóinne and Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara to fruition. Fantastic work was done by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to get those over the line, but also by the whole of the Government. It was not only a ministerial job; it had to be approved by the Government. The fact that the Government had the vision to bring two national parks into the frame speaks volumes about the care that we have for nature in this country.

I am hearing the comments from colleagues around inland and the midlands, be it a freshwater national park or a Slieve Bloom national park, which we looked at as well, specifically related to the hen harrier. It should be given active consideration. The good thing about bringing new national parks into the fray is it takes pressure off other national parks. Brú na Bóinne has the potential to take pressure off the Wicklow Mountains National Park, which comes under significant pressure from the greater Dublin area. Notwithstanding that, it would be fantastic if we could continue that trajectory. We have heard about the relatively small amount of land that our national parks take up, albeit that they continue to expand through land purchases.

My first encounter with our national parks, apart from visiting them, was joining for a couple of seasons the ground work crew in Killarney National Park and getting eaten alive by midges to take out rhododendron ponticum with mattocks - the old way. It was labour-intensive work, heading out in boats early in the morning and taking large tracks of rodo out of the parks. I commend the NPWS for the work that it has done in recent years in terms of rodo management. There have been different approaches to it in different national parks. Glenveagh has a different approach to Connemara, as does Killarney, but there is success happening. I commend the innovation that continues to take place.

The point I want to make generally here this afternoon is to praise the National Parks and Wildlife Service. As the Minister of State himself will be aware from having met them on the ground, not only in national parks but in other settings across the country, they are a remarkable group of civil servants. Their ability to innovate, be creative and use their own skills, be they general operatives, rangers or scientific staff such as ecologists, has been the hallmark of what they have achieved with scant resources, I would say, up to 2020. Certainly, even the investment we made then and over those intervening five budgetary cycles - and, thankfully, the welcome addition that the Minister of State has added in budget 2026 - has still been a modest investment for an agency that has in its care all of the State's biodiversity. They have done incredible work.

Added to that, which is unique in nature conservation here, is the amount of women who work in the National Parks and Wildlife Service - the amount of women who have come in as rangers in the last couple of years but also into other parts of the national parks services. They are really fantastic. It is wonderful to see that gender equality across the NPWS as well. I pay tribute to them because they are the real heroes in all of this. They are the people who are on the ground interfacing with landowners or farmers, working on invasive manage and working on deer management. That is a hugely important part of their role.

Separately, it is important to look at the educational role that is an intrinsic part of our national parks. We are here discussing our national parks specifically but there have also been broader conversations about nature. The education role that is played by the NPWS staff in the national parks is the critical element that will sow the seeds of a love of nature among young people that will stay with them through their lives. I pay tribute to the staff for that.

It is critical that there have been calls for legislation to underpin our national parks to define what they are. Members have all proposed or suggested other ideas for national parks in Ireland but we need legislation to underpin that. There are international definitions of what national parks are but having legislation to give due specific recognition to our national parks would be important in terms of looking at thresholds for visitor numbers, local communities having an active role in their development, looking at the economic, social and recreational role as well as the invaluable role that they play for nature and heritage, and looking as well at the increasing challenges that our national parks face from climate change because it will be a significant challenge, one that is playing out already. I have also seen the work, particularly in Killarney, where the staff have done considerable training on fire and firebreak management. That work should be ongoing but dedicated legislation for our national parks would be helpful in underpinning the invaluable work that they do and looking at the development of the park.

Particularly when Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara was brought over the line and the Conor Pass was purchased, there was a lot of talk about ecological dead zones and how there was nothing there but sheep, but part of the work of developing a national park has to be around developing management plans for them. That work is ongoing and there has been good engagement with the local communities around Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara and how it develops. Those management plans for all of our national parks are vital.

Today is an important day. It is probably the first time we have had a debate specifically related to our national parks. For Deputy O'Sullivan, as Minister of State, it is good to hear the views of Members in terms of what they want to see. The Irish people and our visitors take great pride in and get great enjoyment out of our national parks.

I remain deeply concerned about what is happening in relation to L'Instrument Financier pour l'Environnement, LIFE, projects and a proposal by the European Commission to subsume them into the so-called competitiveness fund. The LIFE projects have been invaluable in rural communities in Ireland. The Minister of State himself knows that; he has visited some of them. This is money that finds its way and embeds itself into rural Ireland and into rural communities doing actions and results-based schemes for farmers. If we lose that dedicated LIFE programme, we will lose an awful lot of momentum that we built up over the last four or five years.

I wish Deputy O'Sullivan continued success in his Ministry. The Minister of State has the support of this House in his endeavours.