{"id":422015,"date":"2026-04-28T18:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422015\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T18:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:11:08","slug":"dedicated-nature-fund-needed-to-save-irelands-remaining-wildlife-advisory-body-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422015\/","title":{"rendered":"Dedicated nature fund needed to save Ireland\u2019s remaining wildlife, advisory body says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of millions of euro in funding and a fundamental change of mindset in the Government will be needed to save Ireland\u2019s nature<\/a>, an advisory body has warned. <\/p>\n

The independent advisory committee formed to make recommendations on the State\u2019s Nature Restoration Plan says a dedicated fund \u2013 receiving potentially up to \u20ac700 million a year \u2013 must be provided. <\/p>\n

Part of the fund would pay farmers, other landowners and fishers to let certain natural habitats<\/a> rejuvenate by avoiding intensive agriculture and extraction in some locations. <\/p>\n

The money would also beef up the understrength National Parks and Wildlife Service<\/a>, enable investment in the country\u2019s neglected national parks and nature reserves, boost tree-planting and green space creation countrywide, and accelerate the rescue of the polluted river network. <\/p>\n

The committee says any nature restoration strategy will also need leadership from the Government, public bodies and semi-State companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Committee wishes to highlight the frustrations and inefficiencies existing across public bodies due to a lack of shared goals, poor communication pathways, incoherent policies, and an unwillingness to share data across Departments and State agencies,\u201d it says in its final report<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It notes that the Department of Housing \u2013 responsible for the nature brief \u2013 was asked for input on urban ecosystems but failed to deliver. <\/p>\n

It says the State must lead the way by restoring nature on public land, but Coillte<\/a> and Bord na M\u00f3na<\/a>, the largest public landowners, have commercial mandates that work against nature. <\/p>\n

Neither company has board members with specialist ecological or environmental skills, the report says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Wildlife experts call for \u2018misleading\u2019 timber industry book to be removed from schoolsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It also says the outdated Arterial Drainage Act, which requires the Office of Public Works<\/a> to drain peatlands and wetlands to create farmland, is long overdue repeal. <\/p>\n

The country has no flood plain map, no localised habitats maps, no pesticide reduction plan, not enough native tree saplings in nurseries to support new planting and a lack of data on many species, including forest birds and seabirds. <\/p>\n

\u201cSevere limitations\u201d must be introduced on the sale of pesticides outside of professional use if the dramatic decline in bees, butterflies and other pollinators is to be halted, it says. <\/p>\n

The advisory committee, chaired by Aoibhinn N\u00ed Sh\u00failleabh\u00e1in<\/a>, has members drawn from farming, fisheries, public officials, environmental groups and academics. <\/p>\n

Their report was informed by a countrywide series of open community discussions and closed-door meetings with business, farming and other sectoral interest groups. <\/p>\n

All EU member states are required to produce a Nature Restoration Plan by this September as part of a legal requirement to restore 20 per cent of Europe\u2019s degraded land and sea habitats to health by 2030, and all of them by 2050.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0One third of Ireland\u2019s wild bee species could go extinct by 2030. You can help by taking a photographOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The latest assessment of Ireland\u2019s nature, published last December, showed 90 per cent of habitats, including woodland, coastal, freshwater and grassland areas, were in poor condition, with many of the animals and birds reliant on them also in decline. <\/p>\n

In her forward to the report, N\u00ed Sh\u00failleabh\u00e1in says the slide has been going on for decades, jeopardising not only wildlife but food production, clean water and buffers against extreme weather that a healthy natural environment supports. <\/p>\n

\u201cFunding this work makes economic sense, since it directly benefits societal health and well being, lessens security and financial risks, and contributes to climate mitigation and adaptation,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

She says funding a turnaround makes economic sense. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt directly benefits societal health and well being, lessens security and financial risks, and contributes to climate mitigation and adaptation,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

The recommendations have been submitted to Minister of State for Nature Christopher O\u2019Sullivan, who will formally publish them on Wednesday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of millions of euro in funding and a fundamental change of mindset in the Government will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[184674,851,27799,2885,49785,61,60,4875,3738,43,32235],"class_list":["post-422015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-aoibhinn-ni-shuilleabhain","tag-biodiversity","tag-bord-na-mona","tag-climate-change","tag-coillte","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-national-parks-and-wildlife-service","tag-nature","tag-news","tag-office-of-public-works"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}