asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider introducing legislation to enable the setting up of a type of national park in the Dublin and Wicklow hills where ownership of the land would remain with the farmers, but where necessary arrangements could be made for tourists to enjoy the beauties and amenities of these hills subject to necessary safeguards and compensation for the farmers.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Parks.
13.
The question of establishing national parks of the type suggested by the Deputy has been under examination by the National Parks and Monuments Branch of the Office of Public Works for some time. A pilot study sponsored by the branch is in progress in the Kilkenny region to assess the feasibility of such a project and to clarify the problems it would pose. A number of public meetings have been held in which representatives of many local and national organisations have participated. A steering committee was set up to arrange for detailed surveys of the amenity resources of the region, to co-ordinate the work of the various participants and to formulate guidelines for the management of the area in the interests of landowners and visitors alike.
The committee issued a preliminary report last year and will issue a further report when the study has been completed. It is hoped that the Kilkenny pilot study will serve as a blueprint for other areas of outstanding amenity value and will help in identifying the legislative and administrative requirements for the management of such areas which might include part of the Dublin and Wicklow hills.
The Parliamentary Secretary will appreciate that I was not asking a question about Kilkenny; I was asking a question about the Dublin and Wicklow hills. The Parliamentary Secretary has not answered the question. I asked him if he would consider introducing the necessary legislation to enable such a park to be established because I understand that present legislation does not enable that to be done.
What I have been trying to explain is that we are very interested in this type of project. In fact, interest in the Dublin and Wicklow hills has continued to grow since October, 1969, following a report called "Tourism in Ireland, East" published by the Eastern Regional Tourism Organisation. In the Office of Public Works we took a pilot area and we picked Kilkenny because of its architectural, archaeological and scenic features and we felt it was a very good place in which to find out what will be involved, what will be required and what legislation will be necessary. We hope as a result of experience in Kilkenny to request the Government to introduce legislation for the purpose of giving us greater powers in this matter.
Legislation was necessary in England to set up similar parks and we will have to introduce legislation if the matter is to go ahead beyond the report stage, so to speak, because the matter has gone as far as it can go without legislation.
As the Deputy is probably aware, this matter has been discussed in recent times by such bodies as UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature——
It is done all over England.
Yes, but at their general assembly in New Delhi last November/December the IUCN passed a resolution which would define what these park areas would be and the type of park area which we are considering in Kilkenny, and the one suggested for the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains, would be on the British model and it would conform with the IUCN definition. If it was decided that the Republic should comply with the IUCN resolution a different title would have to be found for such areas as Kilkenny and the Dublin and Wicklow hills and a title such as the National Amenity Area or the National Conservation Area might be appropriate. However, as I said, we are carrying out our experiments in Kilkenny——
The Parliamentary Secretary is making the thing more complicated than it should be.
As the Deputy is probably aware, this matter was also discussed in Strasbourg and in——
Keep it in the Dublin and Wicklow hills. Do not go to Strasbourg or to the ends of the earth.
As the Deputy is aware, the matter has been pursued very actively by certain Fianna Fáil councillors——
Of course, by the brother of a prominent Parliamentary Secretary. That is why I am amazed——
(Interruptions.)
The official Fianna Fáil Deputies or the unofficial Fianna Fáil Deputies?
Question No. 14.
All the Parliamentary Secretaries are speaking now.
The Office of Public Works are sympathetic to the idea.