Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2021
719. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the actions being taken to preserve rare bird species including the corncrake, curlew, red grouse and grey partridge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15551/21]
View answerMy Department is responsible for the implementation of the Wildlife Acts and the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, both of which underpin the legislative and policy framework for the protection and conservation of our natural heritage. In particular, the 2011 Regulations transpose two key pieces of EU nature legislation: the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive.
Under Article 12 of the Birds Directive, Member States are required to report to the EU Commission on the implementation of national provisions taken under this Directive. In 2019, as part of this reporting obligation, Ireland submitted 209 season specific assessments, including assessments for all of Ireland’s regularly occurring breeding species and a large proportion of those species’ populations that occur here during the non-breeding period.
A range of conservation measures have been put in place in an attempt to halt and reverse population declines for threatened bird species. The following examples are targeted at particular bird species but are likely have positive benefits for other species and habitats.
The Corncrake LIFE project is a five year EU LIFE funded project which aims to improve the conservation status of corncrake through enhancement of the SPA network and surrounding farmland. Initially delayed due to COVID-19, the project is now operational in counties Mayo, Galway and Donegal. My Department continues to operate a Corncrake Grant Scheme, now in tandem with the new LIFE project, to promote meadow management that benefits corncrakes.
The NPWS Curlew Conservation Programme continues to bolster conservation efforts for threatened breeding Curlew, with teams undertaking habitat management and community engagement in core areas. Further innovations for Curlew conservation are being developed by the Curlew Project, one of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) projects funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Another EIP project, the Sustainable Uplands Agri-environment Scheme (SUAS) is a pilot project which aims to address the agricultural, environmental and socioeconomic issues associated with upland farming in the Wicklow/Dublin uplands. Its work on uplands management includes actions which will benefit the Red Grouse.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in my Department manage Nature Reserves such as in the Slieve Blooms to target upland species including the grouse.
The NPWS operate a Farm Plan Scheme that supports landowners to deliver actions that benefit habitats and species in biodiversity areas of European and Irish importance. This includes conservation measures on priority farmland areas to benefit breeding waders, Chough, threatened passerines such as Whinchat, and various wintering geese and swans. A significant funding increase in 2021 means the Scheme can be expanded from around 100 to 300 farm plans and I launched a call for applications to the Scheme last Friday.
The NPWS liaise with DAFM for the design and targeting of more widespread national agri-environment measures on farmland, which includes measures for: Curlew; breeding waders more generally; wintering geese and swans; and threatened species including Twite, Grey Partridge and Hen Harrier.
NPWS also run a Grey Partridge conservation programme based primarily at Boora, Co. Offaly, which also delivers benefits for breeding Lapwing and other ground-nesting birds such as Skylark.
