Sir, – It is regrettable that your recent article marking the 60th anniversary of Ireland’s first national park (“Killarney National Park’s 60th birthday: A time for deep reflection and radical reform”, October 31st) neglected to engage with the actual managers of the park or seek any information about the transformation that is happening there under my term as Minister of State for Nature.
The piece references the decades of underinvestment in natural heritage by successive governments and notes the 170 per cent increase in funding under this one.
It does not refer, however, to the €3.15 billion Climate and Nature Fund that was designed to resource nature restoration, the 300 per cent increase in investment specifically for national parks, nor the work under way to develop the heads of a National Parks Bill, or even last month’s announcement on long-term management plans for each of our eight parks.
It also fails to mention the doubling of dedicated staff for Killarney National Park itself, the new data-led, strategic rhododendron removal programme under way there, and the 4,400 acres of land that has been cleared of invasive species over the past 24 months.
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It has nothing to say about the efforts to manage deer in a targeted, evidence-based way or the ongoing ecological study on the conservation status of all of the park’s woodland habitats.
This impressive body of work is being led by cross-functional teams of land managers, conservation rangers, woodland ecologists, restoration ecologists and ground staff across the entire National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Killarney National Park is a 26,000 acre landscape with 1.5 million visitors per year. While ecological restoration may not be “rocket science”, as one of your contributors pointed out, implementing it at scale across vast, complex and very public geographies is far from easy.
This work takes time, careful planning, substantial and consistent resourcing, and strong leadership.
I have set us on the right trajectory, now it’s up to the next government to continue to turn this ship around. – Is mise,
MALCOLM NOONAN TD,
Minister of State for Nature,
(Green Party),
Department of Housing,
Local Government and Heritage,
Dublin 1.