Sir, - BirdWatch Ireland was surprised and disappointed to note the absence of any real increase in the provision for Duchas-National Parks and Wildlife (the State agency for nature conservation) in the Government's recently published Estimates for next year for the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and Islands. We are urging the Government to review this situation as a matter of urgency with a view to correcting matters in the national Budget next month.
The mere 4 per cent increase in the Estimates allocation for 2001 to Duchas-NPW falls short of even keeping pace with the current inflation rate and has to be viewed against the background of already reduced funding for this vital aspect of our national heritage in each of the past two years. The figure for the year 2000 had already shown a 20 per cent drop from the 1999 figure, which in turn represented a 2 per cent cut on the 1998 allocation.
We cannot avoid contrasting the almost static wildlife budget for 2001 within the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and Islands with an overall increase of 19 per cent for that Department, including 18 per cent extra for arts and culture, 26 per cent extra for the Gaeltacht and Irish language, 14 per cent extra for RTE and 23 per cent more for Departmental pay and pensions. A Government constraint on funding for nature conservation is particularly depressing at this time when (a) the National Exchequer is very substantially in surplus and (b) Ireland is already under strong EU pressure to fulfil its overdue obligations to designate special conservation areas under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives.
Indeed, we find the situation all the more incomprehensible in the context of the excellent progress which was made in recent weeks in processing the Wildlife Amendment Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas. Of itself, this excellent piece of legislation can be of only limited effect unless the State's own nature conservation agency is adequately resourced and funded to implement it effectively on the ground. - Yours, etc.,
John Peart, Chairman, BirdWatch Ireland, Longford Place, Monkstown, Co. Dublin.