Vol. 549 No. 3
350 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the number of wildlife rangers operating in County Waterford; her views on whether this number is sufficient to protect the wildlife and the environment within the county; and her further plans to supplement the existing level of rangers. [6903/02]
County Waterford forms part of the south eastern management region of Dúchas – the heritage service of my Department. Conservation rangers are not allocated on a county basis. Currently, responsibility for County Waterford is divided among four conservation rangers working in the south eastern region. These officers would also have responsibility for parts of other adjoining counties. The rangers report to a district conservation officer who is based in County Waterford also.
While, as with other areas, additional resources could be put to good use in the area of nature conservation, my general approach to staffing this sector has been to build up resources over time in order to address the growing volume of work involved in safeguarding our wildlife and important habitats, including responsibilities arising in connection with the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000. This approach has ensured that this sector is now better and more effectively resourced than ever before. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that, since taking office, I have authorised the employment of an extra 30 conservation rangers which significantly increased the strength of the corps to 90. For this reason, I take the view that the existing staff resources should suffice for the present to deal with my Department's general functions in relation to wildlife, management and supervision of protected areas, including national parks, nature reserves and refuges for fauna etc. However, staffing resources for my Department, including those for the heritage area, are maintained under continuous review, subject to overall Government policy on Civil Service numbers.
