Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 September 2022
32. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department is taking to work with and support local authorities in preserving and enhancing biodiversity to help address the biodiversity loss crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47297/22]
View answerMy Department is committed to supporting local authorities in the important role they play in the implementation of actions contained in the National Biodiversity Action Plan. The Programme for Government outlines our ambition to tackle the biodiversity crisis and includes a commitment to ensure that each Local Authority has a sufficient number of biodiversity officers and heritage officers among their staff complement. Local authorities are uniquely positioned, within their own biodiversity plans and working with communities, to help halt biodiversity loss. Biodiversity officers are a key part of this and are crucial to the implementation of actions for biodiversity at local and regional level.
There are currently five biodiversity officers employed in the following local authorities:
Fingal County Council;
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
Dublin City Council
Galway City Council
Kerry County Council.
The Biodiversity Officer programme is currently under development and will be delivered by the Heritage Council and County and City Management Association, with the support of my Department and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Expressions of interest for participation in the pilot were advertised by the Heritage Council in July and that it is expected that participating Local Authorities will begin recruiting in the near future.
My Department also administers the Local Biodiversity Action Fund (LBAF), previously National Biodiversity Action Plan Local Authority Grant Scheme, to assist local authorities in the implementation of actions in the National Biodiversity Action Plan. The funding stream is available to biodiversity officers and heritage officers and enables them to develop projects that address biodiversity loss in their localities by raising awareness for biodiversity, creating new habitats, restoring existing ones and by tackling invasive alien species. My Department has approved almost €1.5m this year in projects to support Local Authorities implement local actions to support our biodiversity objectives, with a total of 128 projects approved, covering a range of biodiversity related activities, including invasive alien species control, dune restoration, wetland surveys and biodiversity awareness and training.
