Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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300. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide a list of local authorities that do and do not have biodiversity officers; the local authorities that have funding requests pending for such officers; and the efforts he is making to ensure that all local authorities have such officers as soon as possible. [56148/21]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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At the current time there are five biodiversity officers employed in the following local authorities:

- Fingal County Council

- Wexford County Council

- Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council

- Dublin City Council

- Kerry County Council

Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. The role of a Biodiversity Officer is therefore prescribed at local level by the employing Local Authority, but the primary function of a Biodiversity Officer is to promote, manage and co-ordinate biodiversity related activities within the Local Authority. Biodiversity Officers are the public face of biodiversity-related activities within the Local Authority, commissioning biodiversity surveys, implementing community related projects to improve the status of biodiversity in the local authority area, and organising relevant public events.

My Department is committed to supporting local authorities in the important role they play in the implementation of actions contained in the National Biodiversity Action Plan. Officials of my Department are working on establishing a programme to facilitate the roll-out of biodiversity officers within local authorities nationwide. My Department’s investment in the biodiversity officer programme, through support of local authorities, will enhance their efforts to deliver benefits for biodiversity. In that context, I have allocated €600k in 2022 towards the programme.