Around 300 National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) farm plans will be operational and paid in 2023, the Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform has said.
Minister Malcolm Noonan told a Dáil debate on the workings of the NPWS that this represents an investment of almost €2.4 million.
The objective of the scheme is to incentivise landowners to deliver a greater benefit for biodiversity by trialing novel approaches to farming for the environment, safeguarding habitats and species and meeting EU conservation measures.
“These farm plans are highly valued by the farming community and I remind everyone that the 2023 farm plan scheme is currently open and accepting applications up to August 4,” the minister said.
“The farm plan scheme really is transformative. It is very popular and many of the landowners and farmers I meet who are in the scheme really value it and become true champions for nature conservation on their own lands,” he added.
NPWS
Minister Noonan also noted that the budget allocation for the NPWS had increased from almost €29 million in 2020 to €53 million in 2023, excluding payroll.
When combined with funding for EU LIFE programmes and other biodiversity spending, it gives “an effective budget for nature” of around €90 million this year, he said.
NPWS staff numbers have risen from 320 in 2020 to almost 500, with a result that payroll costs are up by almost a fifth on last year.
“Recruitment is ongoing for key staff across specialist ecology roles, including marine ecology, ecohydrology and ornithology, as well as rangers and general operatives.
“We are on track to increase the number of conservation rangers to 120 by next spring,” Noonan said.
Nature
The Green Party minister said that the “laser focus” of the NPWS from now on must be “serving the nature agenda” for which it was established.
“It must continue to ask itself if everything it undertakes is aimed exclusively at a positive for nature,” he said.
“What we can say very clearly now is that there are decades of work ahead.
“We need armies of people, both qualified professionals and also people on the ground, to carry out a lot of the practical conservation work such as invasive species removal.”
Minister Noonan said that wildlife protection is fundamental to the work of the NPWS and noted that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage currently has 69 prosecution cases on hand for alleged breaches of wildlife legislation.
He also said that work is ongoing to update and consolidate the Wildlife Act and birds and habitats regulations, “with a focus on deterrence and improving the enforceability of biodiversity laws”.