Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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134. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update on each action in the NPWS strategic plan, including if the action is completed, or on track to meet its deadline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14215/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Strategic Action Plan for the renewal of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has its origin in the Programme for Government commitment to review the remit, status and funding of the NPWS. The review was completed in February 2022 and it made fifteen recommendations to renew the NPWS to make it a more resilient, more effective organisation fit to meet the challenges of the twenty first century.

The Strategic Action Plan, which is approved by Government, contains 44 discrete actions to give effect to the recommendation in the review. The actions are to be implemented over the period June 2022 to March 2024. I am pleased that excellent progress is being made in implementing the action plan with all 2022 actions substantially completed and Q1 2023 actions progressing well. In addition work is ongoing to ensure that the remaining actions are completed within the lifetime of the action plan.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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135. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the appointment of park manager for each national park has been completed; if he will outline plans for the development of management plans for each of the parks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14216/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is the Executive Agency within my Department with primary responsibility for nature conservation, wildlife protection and the presentation and preservation of our National Parks and Nature Reserves. Our six National Parks, Killarney, Connemara, Wild Nephin, Wicklow Mountains, Glenveagh and The Burren are all managed as Category II National Parks under the criteria set out by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

This Government, in its Programme for Government, committed to reviewing the remit, status and funding of the NPWS. That independent, multi-phase Review was completed in Spring 2022. It culminated in a Strategic Action Plan with fifteen key recommendations to renew the NPWS, establish it as an Executive Agency within a Government Department, and made it a more resilient, more effective organisation, fit to meet the current challenges. This Action Plan was accepted by Government and is now being implemented. One of the actions arising has been the strengthening of the management of our National Parks through the appointment of a dedicated Park Manager for each Park. These Park Managers are currently being appointed and are supported by dedicated teams of regional staff.

In 2017 the partnership between the NPWS and Fáilte Ireland was created to achieve the shared goal of further developing quality experiences at our National Parks and Nature Reserves. One major output from the Strategic Partnership with Fáilte Ireland, was a Masterplan for the six National Parks. This provides a high level and integrated blueprint for the NPWS to invest in and better manage the Parks for conservation, biodiversity and visitors alike. In effect, it enables the aligning of conservation objectives of the Parks with increasing visitor appeal and numbers. The Masterplan guides the phased development of these enhanced visitor facilities and improved visitor experiences based on research into international best practice. The Department intends to produce visitor and management plans for its National Parks on an on-going basis, the availability of resources permitting.