I welcome the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to the House. It is great to have a Cabinet Minister in the House for Commencement matters and I thank him for being here.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Culture Ireland
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire for being here. This is a very important matter, as are all of the matters being raised by the Senators in this House. We appreciate the Minister's time given all the pressures that are on it. We are seeking an update from the Minister and his Department on funding to provide an international centre of excellence for Na Píobairí Uilleann on Henrietta Street in Dublin 1. Na Píobairí Uilleann was founded in 1968 by a group of volunteers who were champions of the uilleann pipes. I can count among them an old neighbour of mine who is now sadly deceased, and also Seán Potts and others. From a voluntary perspective, they established Na Píobairí Uilleann with the simple but ambitious aim of promoting and preserving the uilleann pipes and their music. Since its founding, Na Píobairí Uilleann has grown into a thriving cross-Border, international arts organisation. It is dedicated to sharing, promoting and championing the sound of Ireland which is the uilleann pipes. The organisation offers a wide range of services to pipers but also to uilleann pipe enthusiasts. Its members have not only formal classes for the tuition of piping, but they also teach instrument maintenance, repair and construction. They have published books and released recordings on the uilleann pipes. In addition to its work with the pipers, Na Píobairí Uilleann also promotes the uilleann pipes and Irish music to a wider audience internationally through concerts, festivals and other events. It is an organisation of which we should all be very proud. Its members have played a really key role in the revival of an interest in traditional Irish music which has helped to ensure the continuation of the tradition of the uilleann pipes. Na Píobairí Uilleann now has over 1,500 members in more than 40 countries.
It also teaches in Enniskillen and Derry, supports the tuition in Belfast and works with the Armagh Pipers Club. It is a fantastic organisation and has done a great job since 1968. When I was a city councillor myself, it brought forward a proposal with the city council to develop on its site in Henrietta Street - a most beautiful intact Georgian Street in the heart of our capital - an international centre of excellence. That proposal is one for which I want to thank the Minister. He has visited the existing property there on Henrietta Street. It has Part 8 planning permission and I was glad as a city councillor to be able to support Na Píobairí Uileann in securing that. It has heads of agreement with Dublin City Council to develop the site. There has been a cost-benefit analysis and a cost has already been identified for this project in the region of €8 million. It has the support and has engaged with all of the relevant stakeholders, not just with the pipers themselves but also Dublin City Council, the Arts Council, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, as well as with the local community.
This is a fabulous project. It has planning permission and has the support and endorsement of all of the relevant stakeholders. My appeal to the Minister today is to ask him and his Department if it can find the funds within, perhaps, the urban regeneration funding to allow this project to proceed. It is shovel-ready and will be an amazing addition not just, obviously, to my own constituency of Dublin Central but it would be a great addition to Henrietta Street, to the inner city and to our capital city in general. I am hoping that the Minister will be coming to the Chamber with good news and I look forward to his reply.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus go háirithe leis an Seanadóir Fitzpatrick as a ceist agus an tsuim atá aici in ionad na bPíobairí Uileann freisin. I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Senator for her question and for the interest she has shown in na Píobairí Uileann. As she has rightly said, I paid a visit there with her not so long ago, just a couple of months past, and I was very impressed with the work that is being undertaken. I do not believe it is an exaggeration to say that na Píobairí Uileann played a very crucial part in ensuring that the skill of making uileann pipes and the teaching of that beautiful instrument to many people not just in Ireland but across the world continues. This organisation was crucial to ensuring that this was not a skill we lost in this country.
As the Senator has correctly said, the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, was established to support more compact sustainable development through regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns in line with the national planning framework. This will facilitate a greater proportion of residential mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and our larger towns to ensure that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people can choose to live and work, as well as to invest, and importantly in this instance, to visit. Through the URDF, public bodies are receiving targeted support and, to date, there have been two calls, as the Senator will know, under the URDF in excess of €1.6 billion which has been allocated by this Government to 132 proposals, comprising almost 400 projects right across the country.
Specifically, in respect of Dublin City Council, I commend it on the work it has done with the URDF in some very significant plans it has not only in the Senator’s own constituency of Dublin Central, but right across Dublin city also. It has received approval for six projects encompassing a funding commitment of €18 million under call 1. Under call 2, which we announced last year, funding of €174 million has been provisionally allocated for Dublin City Council’s two successful proposals. One of these is a very important north inner city concept for area one, which amounts to €121 million, and then in the south inner city a further allocation of €53 million is being made. To date, therefore, Dublin City Council has received just short of €200 million under URDF, that is funding of €192 million to be exact.
As part of the third round of funding which I announced in January, local authorities were asked to review the projects they already had and to provide an update to me on the status of each project.
Where a project may have been approved for funding support and it was no longer to proceed, I would ask local authorities, including Dublin City Council, to communicate that, to re-evaluate it and to see could we reallocate those moneys.
Dublin City Council responded to the third funding round and confirmed that a small number of its projects are not proceeding. They have, in consequence, put forward alternative projects for consideration for funding, one of which, I am glad to say, is the proposed international centre of excellence of uilleann piping on Henrietta Street - Na Píobairí Uilleann. I can confirm, therefore, that funding of the proposed uilleann piping centre under the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, is being considered and officials from the Department are engaging with Dublin City Council on the matter.
I can tell Senator Fitzpatrick, furthermore, I would like to see this project proceed. I am aware that the Senator has been incredibly supportive of it, as am I. I am waiting for a final submission from my Department officials, once the talks with Dublin City Council conclude. I am very positively disposed towards it.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. It is welcome news that the Department is engaging with the city council and is looking favourably on this proposal.
It is important that we preserve our unique heritage. It is called the sound of Ireland because of the unique sound that uilleann pipes create, the uniqueness of the instrument, the complexity of it and the richness of that sound.
I appreciate that the Minister and his Department have many demands on the State's resources but a project such as this is one will serve not only this generation, but generations to come. In so doing, it will also honour the generations that went before us. I thank the Minister for his time today. I thank him for the positive response. I really hope we will be able to invite the Minister back to the Seanad to advise on an actual approval of funding in the near future.
Gabhaim buíochas arís leis an Seanadóir. Táim dóchasach go mbeidh mé ábalta freagra dearfach a thabhairt dóibh go luath. Tá súil agam go mbeidh mé ábalta é sin a dhéanamh i mí an Mheithimh nó i mí na Bealtaine. I am hopeful we will be able to give some good news soon. Henrietta Street is magnificent. This will be a further addition to the north inner city area and will mean that the craft of making uilleann pipes will be able to be done on-site with training, apprenticeships and all that goes with it. The plans that they have, which I looked at in advance of coming in, following the meeting with them, will provide a superb exhibition space for recitals etc. as well.
As I said, tá mé dóchasach faoi. Beidh mé lánsásta teacht ar ais go dtí an Seanad go luath faoi sin.
Could I just say, before the Minister leaves, that it is refreshing and positive to see a full Cabinet Minister taking a Commencement matter in the Seanad. The Minister might communicate to his Cabinet colleagues that it would be welcome and a wonderful sight to see Cabinet Ministers taking Commencement matters. I thank the Minister for being here this afternoon for that.
I had the pleasure of serving in the Seanad for five years. I fully respect the Seanad and the work that Senators do. Any time that I can come in here, I will. I will happily relay your feedback to my Cabinet colleagues.
I have written to all Cabinet Ministers on foot of comments from Members of the House complaining at the lack of Cabinet Ministers, as well as Ministers of State complaining on the floor of the Seanad about they having to take two, three or four Commencement matters. It is genuinely very positive to see a Cabinet Minister here. Go raibh míle maith agat.
Tá fáilte romhat.
EU Directives
At the outset, the concept of this Commencement debate looks somewhat technical but I will give the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, the context in which I raise it.
I am raising it following a visit by the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, and me to Coláiste Chú Chulainn, a secondary school in Dundalk, County Louth, last week ahead of Europe Day today.
First, that school is one of Dundalk's newest schools. It is really quite an incredible school because there are 44 different languages in the school from its student body. It really is representative of what Ireland's schools of the future will look like throughout the next decade. This is why I am raising this issue. It affects every post-primary school in the State of which there are approximately 760.
Curriculums throughout all secondary schools are rich and broad. One of the ways a student's experience in secondary school can be enhanced is through visiting foreign countries and seeing different cultures and different societies. Some of the very first trips abroad I ever went on were during secondary school. The European Union has provided for this. In 1994, the Council of the European Union agreed to an initiative by the Federal Republic of Germany to the effect that students legally resident in a member state but not a national of an EU member state could travel on these education trips within the European Union without a visa being required. That has been law in the European Union since 1994.
Let us put that into practical terms. What does it actually mean? It means that a 16-year-old Irish-resident student studying in a school in Ireland with a non-EU passport is allowed to travel on a school educational trip anywhere within the European Union without a visa. As I have said, that has been the case since 1994 so there should be no anxiety for any such students about whether they can make these school trips on the basis of the country they are going to. I will give an example. This month, a group of students from Coláiste Chú Chulainn are going on one of their first trips abroad, to Italy. The Italian Embassy in Dublin has been really proactive and fantastic in saying that visas are not needed to travel there. However, the experience with the embassies of other countries, which I will not name here, has unfortunately not been the same. Other countries have insisted that visas are required, contrary to the rules under the 1994 decision. It is not being enforced fairly across the board. Naturally, this causes a lot of concern for students from different backgrounds who are resident in Ireland, who do not have an EU passport and who may not be allowed to travel on these trips during secondary school. On that occasion, the embassy highlighted to Coláiste Chú Chulainn that it believed a number of Irish secondary schools are unaware of the 1994 decision, do not realise it exists and believe that visas are needed. It has tried to ensure that as many as possible are informed.
I bring this to the Seanad today in the hope that we can do three things in this regard. I request that the annex to the agreement be updated to take into account that identification and passport documents are now electronic and to make better reference to these. Second, I request that all EU member states issue a communication to their various embassies reiterating and publicising anew the positive agreements that were made in this arrangement back in 1994. Finally, it is important to work with our colleagues in the Department of Education to make sure this information gets out to schools right across the board. That would be really helpful in removing this anxiety and red tape that secondary schools throughout the country are experiencing.
I thank the Senator for bringing this matter to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Harris. The Senator will be aware that Ireland, as a member of the European Union, offers freedom of movement to nationals of the European Economic Area and certain family members. The relevant EU legislation in this regard is the directive on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the member states. On 30 November 1994, the Council of the EU adopted a decision on a joint action on the basis of Article K.3(2)(b) of the Treaty on European Union concerning travel facilities for school pupils from third countries who are legally resident in a member state. This allows schoolchildren from third countries who are resident in a member state to visit or transit another member state of the EU if travelling as a member of a school group without the need to obtain a visa. To qualify under this measure, the pupils must be legally resident in an EU member state, they must be travelling in an organised school group seeking entry into another member state for a short stay or transit and the school must be a general education school. The concession does not apply to specialist institutions. The group must be accompanied by a teacher from the school and the pupils' details and the purpose of the journey must be listed on the common format form, list of travellers form, issued by the school. The application form is available on the immigration service website.
Travel, particularly as part of a school trip, is widely recognised as being incredibly valuable and beneficial to the development of children and young people. It exposes them to different cultures and languages. It informs their understanding of world history and builds empathy with other people's way of life. For many young people, travel is not an option outside of a school trip. School trips are therefore an affordable and engaging opportunity that can influence students' educational development.
The Council decision has facilitated easier travel for non-EU students studying in Ireland to travel throughout the EU and for thousands of non-EU students residing in other member states to come and visit Ireland as part of their school trips. The Senator is very much aware of the technical side. I have heard what he has said. Some of the concern is more about students travelling from Ireland to other EU countries and perhaps embassies not being fully aware of the rights of those students from third countries.
I will certainly raise the matter further with the Minister, Deputy Harris. I will also raise the matter with the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Education to see whether schools can be alerted that this is available. Knowing this facility is available would encourage schools to take more trips because there is not the same complexity they might be afraid of. Today is Europe Day. I was delighted to spend time with a primary school in Rathgarogue, County Wexford. The more travel we can encourage the better the understanding of our country within the EU.
I thank the Minister of State. As I said, when we are reading any European legislation, we wonder what it actually means. This came in on 30 November 1994. How many students in a second level school in Ireland had a non-Irish passport at that time? The number would have been much lower in 1994 than it is in 2023. It is much more prevalent and important today.
I thank the Minister of State for what he has agreed to do. He has agreed to ensure that every secondary school in Ireland, all 760 of them, are fully aware that no visas are required within the EU when on an educational trip. That would cut down on a lot of stress and anxiety. Perhaps the Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs should make sure that every embassy knows this is part of a European declaration from 1994 and that it is not acceptable for some European embassies in this country to decide they will not listen to that and instead ignore it. I will not mention them, but we have to ask whether it is a case of a lack of knowledge to enforce this. We need to remind embassies that students in this country are allowed to go abroad regardless of whether they have an Irish passport.
I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. I will raise the matter with the Minister. As the Senator will be aware, Ireland, as a member state of the European Union, offers freedom of movement to nationals of the European Economic Area and certain family members. The relevant EU legislation in this regard is a directive on the rights of citizens of the Union and their families to move and reside freely within the territory of the member state.
I again thank the Senator for bringing this matter to the attention of the Minister. I am advised he has already passed his comments to officials working in the Department who will now examine the matter further. I would like to emphasise that any school group in Ireland that is travelling abroad should check the requirements with the host country and airline. These requirements can vary. Some countries require passports to have at least six months left on them from the date of planned departure before allowing entry into a country. The Department of Foreign Affairs website has helpful information in this regard for teachers.
Finally, I would like to wish a successful journey to the students in Coláiste Chú Chulainn, Dundalk. As I said, I will bring the matter to the attention of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Education.
The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, is very welcome to the House. I call Senator O'Loughlin.
I was told I was dealing with the third Commencement matter in the name of Senator Lombard.
I was told the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, would deal with my Commencement matter.
We are on the third Commencement matter. With the indulgence of Senator O'Loughlin, can we take the Commencement matter in the name of Senator Lombard?
If the Members who should be here turned up, we would not have this problem.
That is another point. I apologise to the Minister of State for this confusion and thank him for his continuous attendance in the House to take Commencement matters that are not necessarily the responsibility of his Department. On this occasion, I call Senator Lombard.
Special Educational Needs
I appreciate the Minister of State turning up. I also appreciate that this issue is not within his remit. He is the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW, whereas I am trying to progress a matter of special education. The Minister of State has a great knowledge of west Cork, though, given he has family in Bandon and other parts of west Cork, so he will understand what I am about to discuss, namely, a special school for the west Cork catchment area. A special school for autistic children is an issue that we need to progress, if possible.
West Cork is an exceptionally large area and we have a significant network of autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classrooms in the majority of primary schools. These have been helpful and appropriate to the needs of the majority of children. Unfortunately, a small minority of children need to attend special schools. The nearest special school to the people I have been speaking to is in Cork city. Six-, seven- and eight-year-olds are getting on a bus in Skibbereen, travelling for more than two hours to reach that special school and travelling for the same amount of time coming home. That we are stuck with such a scenario is unbelievable.
A special school for autistic children is a matter that we have been trying to progress for the past six or seven years in particular. There has been movement on special schools in other parts of the county. For example, Rochestown saw a new special school open in recent months and the plans for a special school in Carrigtwohill in east Cork are welcome. However, a special school for autistic children in west Cork is an issue that we must progress. There is a considerable level of need within the area. Of the more than 1,000 people involved, 60 or 70 children need to attend a special school. Parents feel that their lives are being put on hold because of the lack of such a school. It comes down to basic stuff. For example, not only is there the issue of the hours spent travelling every day, but the children's friends do not attend their birthday parties because their friends live three hours away and will not make the effort to come. These kids' ability to socialise with their friends is being taken away. Their parents are worn out. When their kids come home, they are wrecked and physically fit for nothing only to lie on the couch for an hour or two because of the amount of travelling involved.
The needs of the kids, parents and communities are not being addressed by the current model, which has left children on buses and in taxis for hours every day. It kills the entire community and the environment in which these kids are living. We need the Minister to meet the children, parents and a trustee so that we can work together on progressing this project and have a special school in west Cork. The benefits of this are obvious and the level of need is significant. If we get everyone together around the table, we will be able to provide a special space so that children do not have to spend hours in cars going nowhere.
I apologise to Senator O'Loughlin. I am not sure what happened at the start.
A priority for the Government is to ensure that all children have an appropriate school place and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to cater for children with special educational needs. It is important to remember that the vast majority of children with special education needs are supported in attending mainstream classes with their peers. To support children with more complex needs, though, the Department will spend in excess of €2.6 billion this year on providing additional teaching and care for them. In 2023, the Department has increased the number of teacher and special needs assistant, SNA, posts and there will be an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,100 SNAs. For the first time ever, we will have more than 19,000 teachers working in special education and more than 20,000 SNAs, together with almost 40,000 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.
The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating provision for children across the country.
Over the past three years the Department and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to provide sufficient mainstream classes and special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit with more than 600 special classes sanctioned at primary level, almost 300 sanctioned at post-primary level and five new special schools established over the past three years. On 12 April the Minister announced the establishment of two further special schools as part of a comprehensive update of enhanced education provision - as the Senator referred to, they are in Carrigtwohill in east Cork and in Dublin 7 - for the 2023-24 school year. Along with the two new special schools, the Department has also confirmed that 218 new special classes - 126 at primary level and 92 at post-primary level - have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2023-24 school year, with more to be confirmed over the coming weeks. Some 45 of the 218 special classes sanctioned by the NCSE are in County Cork, 29 at primary level and 16 at post-primary level. These new classes are being established in schools across the city and county, including in west Cork. They will bring the total number of special classes in County Cork to 466, 329 at primary level and 137 at post-primary level.
The Senator referenced the issue of establishing a new special school in west Cork. While I am not a Minister of State in the Department of Education, I want to assure him that the Department and the NCSE will continue to monitor and review the need for special schools and the expansion of existing ones over the coming months and years. The Minister is conscious that some students are travelling too far to access a special school or class placement. This is a key consideration when we decide to establish a new special school or expand its services.
I take note of the points made by Senator Lombard. As somebody who is very familiar with the terrain of west Cork, I know there are problems with using a naked population ratio to establish any kind of service in some of the more remote parts of the country. If you compare flat territory that does not have peninsulas, mountains or water to places with lush green fields and roads laid out in straight lines, you may as well be comparing apples with pineapples. They are two totally different things. The Senator is right about the terrain and the geographical impediment. As a teacher, I probably know this better than some. The impediments some people have to endure in order to fulfil the access their child needs to gain a successful education are disproportionate in some cases. The points raised by the Senator are valid.
I think the Minister of State knows it better than most.
We are looking at more than 60 kids who could potentially go to a special school in west Cork. Unfortunately, the majority of them are travelling more than two hours in a car or bus. Some of them are travelling more than four hours in a car or bus. It just does not work for these families, these kids and these communities. The need for the geography element to be taken into consideration is huge. If we just consider population, it is always going to work against us. Geographical impediments are our biggest issue. I firmly believe we need to have a round-table discussion. We need to bring together the Minister, maybe a trustee and the actual groups to hammer out a project to make sure these children have the ability to go to school in an appropriate manner. Two hours each way on a bus is not appropriate. I welcome the Minister of State's comments, particularly those at the end of his speech. The geographical impediment of what we are seeing at the moment is literally killing the family environment, and destroying any social fabric these poor kids have.
I have a fair few family members in west Cork. Even though Cork is an adjoining county to my own county, I would be in Dublin faster than I would be down to see some of them. The distances are not only great, but they are complicated. I can only imagine what it must be like to be the parent of a young child from Baltimore, Ballydehob, Schull, Goleen, Bantry or any of the places on the Beara Peninsula or the Sheep's Head Peninsula. It must be difficult. A compelling case has been made for the inclusion of geographical impediments. It cannot just be determined on the basis of a population of 210,000 or 147,000. I mean no disrespect to the Senator from County Kildare, but there is no comparison between a population base of 147,000 in County Kildare or County Limerick and a population base of 147,000 in west Cork. I will pass on to the Department of Education the geographical impediments raised by the Senator.
Heritage Sites
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke for attending. I did not realise he was in the anteroom so I apologise for delaying him. I call Senator O'Loughlin.
I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and the Minister of State for making himself available. The Tánaiste, as Minister for Defence, contacted me to apologise that he could not take this matter as he is meeting with PDFORRA, which is a very important organisation to the whole Defence Forces family, so I totally accept why he cannot be here. As a very proud Lillywhite, I know only too well the closeness and pride the people of County Kildare feel for the Curragh of Kildare, which is not just a jewel in the crown of Kildare but a national treasure. It is a place of great importance from an ecological, archaeological and cultural perspective. It is a great place for local people to walk and to enjoy because it is bordered by many towns and villages, including Kildare, Newbridge, Miltown, Athgarvan, and Kilcullen. Local people have great respect for it but unfortunately not everyone has the same respect, and there are ongoing issues on an annual basis with illegal encampments and the dumping of waste around the Curragh. It is for this, and many other reasons that is should have the highest level of protection.
The Curragh is the largest area of semi-natural grassland in the country and has largely remained uncultivated for more than 1,500 years. Over the centuries, its own unique flora has evolved, especially its fungi. Furthermore, having been used in ancient times as a place of assembly and ritual it is rich in archaeological remains. According to the Kildare Archaeological Society, for at least 1,500 years the Curragh was an open unenclosed commonage used for the grazing of sheep, which of course still goes on, the training of horses, which still goes on, and as an assembly and training ground by armies. The very first sub-division of the Curragh was in the 1840s. The Dublin to Cork railway was built right across the Curragh. In the 1860s, the Curragh camp was built and there was a large appropriation for rifle ranges. There is still a very vibrant and active barracks to this day.
It is also a mythical place. The Curragh was used as a meeting place in pre-Christian societies and is shrouded in a mist of mythology. The Hill of Allen is to the north of the Curragh and that was a meeting place of Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Fianna and, as I have referenced many times in the Chamber, legend has it that in approximately 480 AD St. Brigid intended to found a monastery in Kildare town. She asked the High King of Leinster for land on which to build and he said he would grant her as much land as her cloak could cover. She put her cloak on the ground and of course the cloak grew to cover the entire Curragh Plains, 5,000 acres of which are now under the care and protection of the Department of Defence.
However, I believe we need to do more to support and secure the long-term viability and heritage status of the Curragh. Kildare County Council and the Department of Defence appointed the Paul Hogarth Company, together with other consultants, to undertake a conservation plan and a branding, way finding, and interpretation plan for the Curragh Plains. They have liaised with public representatives and the public. More than 4,000 submissions were received. There is huge scope within all of this to secure the long-term viability of the Curragh. Yesterday, I met two local ladies, Ms Kate McCoy and Ms Mona O'Donnell, who were out for a walk. They stressed the need for proper car parking. I gather from conversations with the Minister for Defence, Deputy Micheál Martin, that we are coming to a point where strong recommendations will be made. I understand there is a possibility that the OPW will be recommended as future custodian of the plains. I fully support this. While we do need to see a long-term vision for the Curragh, I reiterate my call for national heritage status for the Curragh.
What is the Department's long-term plan for the Curragh and how will the Government support our call for national heritage status?
I apologise for the absence of the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence. I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising the very important matter of the future management and protection of the Curragh plains. The Tánaiste would also like to reassure the House that the future management and protection of the unique biodiversity of the Curragh plains, coupled with its importance from a military perspective and its long-standing association with agricultural and horse-racing industries, is not lost on him. The importance of the 5,000 acres of unique grassland as a place of significant natural beauty that should be protected for generations to come is, thankfully, a principle accepted by all, near to and far from the Curragh plains.
To that end, the Department of Defence, together with Kildare County Council, embarked on a unique collaboration aimed at finding a way forward and addressing the many challenges involved in managing and developing the plains. I readily acknowledge that Senator O'Loughlin has been very supportive of this initiative, which involves two State agencies working together to map a way forward for what has proved to be a complex case study. The key objectives of the study are to implement best practice methodologies to protect the landscape, caring for its natural qualities and uniqueness by balancing the needs of its multiple users; and to identity the potential to improve the recreational and educational value of the Curragh as a resource for local people while increasing visitor numbers on a sustainable basis.
A public consultation process was commenced in March 2021, which, given Covid restrictions, was conducted through the Curragh plains website. The response, as the Senator will be aware, was phenomenal. Over 3,600 responses were received, demonstrating the strength of feeling about the Curragh plains. This was followed by a series of targeted virtual workshops with the various stakeholders, including several Members of both Houses as well as local councillors. I thank them for their participation. This process concluded late last year with a wrap-up consultation to ensure the findings reached are reflective of people's wishes and hopes for the Curragh. It is accepted that the overall study has taken longer to complete for a number of reasons. However, the overarching goal for both the Department and the council was and is to get it right rather than just get it done.
I am advised that the final drafting of the study has been effectively concluded among officials and it is now intended that a draft consultation management plan aimed at managing the protection of the Curragh plains, coupled with a branding and interpretative plan aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of the plains and respect from those visiting and using them, will be submitted to the Tánaiste for consideration in the coming weeks. I am advised that these reports, taken together, combine a wide range of recommendations, some of which can be implemented if agreed on in the short term, versus those that may require structural changes to governance of the Curragh plains up to and including possible amendment of the Curragh of Kildare Act 1961.
I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this matter. I look forward to any additional comments she would like to make.
I thank the Minister of State. It is heartening to know this report should be ready in a few weeks and that the recommendations are currently being looked at. The national heritage status is absolutely key. While we may see this area being transferred to the OPW, which would be a good home, there are obviously a number of different Departments involved, including the Departments of Defence, Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Possibly, funding should come from all those places. The Minister of State mentioned possibly amending the Curragh of Kildare Act. I believe that will happen. I have a Bill I hope to introduce over the next two months that relates to the illegal encampments and waste in the area. It has been verified by all the submissions that this is a very special place and we want everybody to be able to use it safely and securely while protecting the Curragh itself.
I thank the Senator for her additional comments. I acknowledge the sentiment that the Curragh is a unique and special place in the hearts and minds of the people of Kildare and, indeed, those beyond who have the pleasure of visiting it and the many who make their living on foot of it. I welcome the Senator’s intention to introduce a Private Member’s Bill, as referenced in her contribution, around the issues of enforcement vis-à-vis the various encampments and fly-tipping, which sadly is a feature at the Curragh and needs to be prevented, as well as antisocial behaviour. I will reaffirm what the Senator said to the Tánaiste and I am sure he will be in touch with her directly over the coming weeks when the report is finalised.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 3.15 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3.32 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 3.15 p.m. and resumed at 3.32 p.m.