The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has confirmed that it is spending €56,413 to carry out a monitoring project on the natterjack toad that is found mainly in Co Kerry.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the department also confirmed that it is also spending €54,500 on the first ever national study of the marsh fritillary butterfly.
The marsh fritillary is the only legally protected insect out of 12,000 Irish insects.
An expert on natterjack toads, Prof Mark Emmerson of Queen’s University Belfast, yesterday described the toad as an “iconic species”.
Both the toad and the butterfly are protected under the EU habitats directive. Sweeney Consultancy has secured the contract for the surveillance operation on the natterjack toad and is due to deliver its final report in November.
Woodrow Sustainable Solutions Ltd’s contract on the marsh fritillary is due to be completed next month.
The department said: “Surveys are progressing to schedule. Preliminary indications are that there has been a good initial uptake of the newly created ponds by natterjacks.”
The department said that if the works are not carried out, “the department would face a lengthy, time-consuming and time-wasting infringement process and the work would still have to be done”.
Prof Emmerson said that the spend on the natterjack toad study “is money well spent”.
