Minister of State for heritage and electoral reform Malcolm Noonan has announced that an ‘independent advisory committee’ will be set up to make recommendations on Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan.
The plan is a requirement under the Nature Restoration Law and is due to be submitted to the European Commission by September 2026.
According to the minister, the committee will include a chairperson and representatives from key sectors, who will be tasked with providing advice and recommendations to the minister on the content of Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan.
Minister Noonan said the committee will also engage with the “stakeholder participation process…ensuring that the views of the public, key groups and sectors are addressed”.
The minister said he would retain overall responsibility for the plan, although the committee will also consider outputs from technical inter-departmental working groups across themes of land; sea; towns and cities; and a separate finance working group.
The inter-departmental working groups will comprise sectoral and academic experts from agriculture, environment, planning, and the marine sector, and will work on “appropriate baselines, datasets, indicators, restoration measures, and monitoring processes”.
The finance working group will consider the financial aspects of the plan, including “socio-economic impact evaluation, the maximisation of existing programmes, and new financial mechanisms”.
The committee will also include a Leaders’ Forum for “cross-sectoral dialogue at CEO (chief executive officer) level”.
‘Leaders’ involved in this forum will be invited to nominate technical subject matter experts, to engage at “a more granular level”.
Meanwhile, the “community conversations” aspect of the committee’s work will involve a locally-led participatory engagement model that aims to inform and hear the views of groups and individuals around the country.
“Form the very start of the Nature Restoration Law debate, I’ve said that Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan should be created in a transparent, collaborative and inclusive manner, based on the best available evidence, and that it should have people and local communities at its heart,” Minister Noonan said.
“The committee will be the link between the stakeholder participation process and the technical working groups, ensuring that all the relevant issues, concerns and perspectives are integrated into the recommendations.”
Minister Noonan said that, while membership of the committee has not yet been finalised, he is in discussions with government colleagues, including Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, on the matter, and said he aims to make an announcements on its membership in the coming weeks.
The minister said: “I cannot underestimate the importance of continued engagement on the Nature Restoration Plan and what it means for Ireland.
“Dialogue really will be key to its success. To that end, I would like to encourage everyone who has an interest in nature, the land, the seas and the built environment to look for opportunities to be part of the process over the coming months,” Minister Noonan added.