John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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113. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government which university has entered into a research agreement with the National Parks and Wildlife Service for studies on bird damage to crops and other topics, as referenced in his response to Parliamentary Question No. 240 of 8 October 2024; and to outline the selection process undertaken in choosing this university for the research project. [43375/24]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has a long history of collaboration with academic institutions to support the delivery of its key functions. Strengthening links with research institutions is an objective of the NPWS Strategic Plan 2023-2025. NPWS is currently in discussions with a third level institution to develop, an approach to collaborative working to test and inform further opportunities and best practice in ensuring that NPWS has access to leading policy relevant research in appropriate fields across all our third level and research institutions.

The institution in question is a research-led university and has a well-established reputation and commitment to excellence in the biological sciences, including in ornithology. Teagasc, Ireland’s state agency providing research, advisory and education in agriculture, horticulture, food and rural development in Ireland, will also be a lead collaborator on the research into bird damage to crops. It is hoped to complete a Memorandum of Understanding in the coming weeks.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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114. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the specific measures in place to independently assess Ireland's compliance with Article 12 of the EU Birds Directive, including compliance with reporting requirements. [43376/24]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Article 12 of the Birds Directive (Directive 2009/147/EC) requires Member States to report “on the implementation of national provisions taken under this Directive”. The reporting requirements and format are specifically set out by the European Environment Agency and accepted by the EU Member States at each reporting interval, including detailed guidance documents on how exactly reporting templates must be completed. All of this information is available on the EIONET Portal (www.eionet.europa.eu/).

Ireland’s reporting under Article 12 of the Birds Directive is delivered by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department. The reports produced take into account data and information sourced from a variety of sources available at the time, including NPWS staff, NPWS projects, contractors working to NPWS, as well as published literature, including scientific articles, reports and other sources. All reports are reviewed and signed off by NPWS prior to submission. Reports are not accepted by the reporting portal if they do not meet the specified reporting requirements. In addition, an independent quality assurance process is undertaken by the EU Commission on all reports, data and spatial information the NPWS submit as part of Article 12 reporting. Ireland’s recent Article 12 reports have met the reporting requirements and thus have been accepted, and these are openly published and available online (e.g. see cdr.eionet.europa.eu/ie/eu/art12/envxztxxq).

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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115. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact a recent newsletter (details supplied) highlighted that the survey had no recent data for a very large number of sites across the country as no counter had been assigned to these sites; if he is satisfied that the level of service currently being provided is in line with the requirements of contracts for which large sums of public funding are being provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43377/24]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS) is the national programme for monitoring population trends of wintering waterbirds. The I-WeBS programme began in 1993 and is one of Ireland’s longest running bird monitoring programmes. It provides comprehensive national coverage, across over 250 wetland sites, including extensive coverage within Ireland’s network of waterbird Special Protection Areas (SPAs).

The scope and ambition of the I-WeBS monitoring programme is such that the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department requires the support of external professional services in its delivery. As such, NPWS undertakes an open procurement process, in line with public service tendering requirements, to obtain the necessary services every 5 years. BirdWatch Ireland successfully competed for this contract in 2019, and they currently coordinate the delivery of the I-WeBS monitoring programme. The delivery of the programme relies on staff from NPWS and BirdWatch Ireland as well as an extensive network of hundreds of volunteers of suitably trained/experienced citizen scientists to regularly monitor wetland sites in the winter.

The referenced recent newsletter, I-WeBS News, the newsletter of the Irish Wetland Bird Survey, had an appeal for surveyors in the August 2024 edition to assist with improving the survey coverage at a range of sites. This includes, amongst others, I-WeBS sites for which there is no recent data and for which there is no currently assigned surveyor. As the article was an appeal for improved coverage at sites, it did not display or include those sites that are receiving sufficient survey coverage. For example, it does not detail the approximately 100 I-WeBS sites for which there is a very high level of data available from winter 1994/95 to present, such that it has been possible to generate site-specific population trends for species occurring at these sites. For further information on these trends, see: birdwatchireland.ie/app/uploads/2023/08/iwebs_trends_report.html

The contract for services for the I-WeBS programme details specific tasks and deliverables in terms of survey coverage, with specific requirements for coverage within SPAs. The NPWS Project Officer for the contract regularly liaises and meets with BirdWatch Ireland, with contract requirements for survey coverage discussed in detail, including outlining where improvements in survey coverage are needed and avenues to be pursued to improve the coverage, whether via voluntary citizen scientists, BirdWatch Ireland staff and/or NPWS staff. At times there are challenges to achieving the desired level of coverage and some sites cannot receive the required survey coverage due to, for example, unsuitable weather, surveyor illness, or inability to access sites. Solutions are being implemented to help improve coverage in areas, including appealing for coverage via newsletters.

NPWS is satisfied that the current level of service is in line with the contract requirements.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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116. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide details of the results of recent scientific surveys of teal numbers and trends in Ireland; and if there is currently a species action plan in place for teal. [43378/24]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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There is a large population of Teal (Anas crecca) that migrate to Ireland to ‘over-winter’ for the non-breeding period, and a relatively small population that breeds in Ireland and is considered resident.

The Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS) is the national programme for monitoring population trends of wintering waterbirds and the habitats they use. The I-WeBS is delivered under contract by BirdWatch Ireland to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department and is the primary tool to survey and monitoring non-breeding Teal in Ireland. In a 2018 publication, the national population of Teal over-wintering in Ireland during the non-breeding period was estimated to be 27,644 individuals, based on data gathered during the period 2011-2016. A more recent analysis estimated that the over-wintering population of Teal increased by 19.4% from winter 1995/96 to winter 2018/19.

The most recent estimate of the size and trends of the breeding population of Teal in Ireland is from the period 2008-2011, at which point the population was estimated to be between 531 and 885 breeding pairs. At that point, the population was considered stable during the short term (1991-2011) but having declined in the long term (1972-2011). Teal breeding distribution is primarily monitoring through the breeding bird atlas projects, and the breeding distribution was estimated to have increased by 24% between 1991 and 2011, but to have declined by 43% between 1972 and 2011.

There is currently no species action plan in place for Teal in terms of their non-breeding or breeding populations.

For more information, see:

Ireland’s 2019 report under Article 12 of the Birds Directive: cdr.eionet.europa.eu/Converters/run_conversion?file=ie/eu/art12/envxztxxq/IE_birds_reports_20191031-130157.xml&conv=612&source=remote

National population trend analysis from I-WeBS data: birdwatchireland.ie/app/uploads/2022/04/iwebs_trends_00000_National.html#Teal

Burke, B., Lewis, L. J., Fitzgerald, N., Frost, T., Austin, G. & Tierney, T. D. (2018) Estimates of waterbird numbers wintering in Ireland, 2011/12 – 2015/16. Irish Birds 11, 1-12.