Minister for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan TD, has announced the opening of public consultation to review and update wildlife legislation in Ireland. The public consultation runs until September 13th.

The public consultation and review will be conducted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS ) at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The legislation being updated includes the Wildlife Act 1976, the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000, the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, and related Regulations. This legislation covers areas such as the protection of birds, the protection of certain wild animals, and the protection of certain lands, sites and habitats.

The objectives are to update legislation so that it better protects nature, helps prevent biodiversity loss, is fully compliant with EU law, and is easier to enforce and comply with. It is anticipated that two new Wildlife Bills and several new Statutory Instruments will be published arising from this work.

The update of legislation will be completed over several years and will entail several phases of public consultation. The key focus of the initial phase of the legislation update will be on strengthening the enforcement of wildlife crime.

The first phase of the consultation is an online public consultation and will run until Friday 13th September 2024. Members of the public are invited to contribute their views on the priorities for any new legislation, anomalies that should be addressed, protections that should be strengthened and any other aspect of our wildlife legislation they think should receive close attention during the review.

For more information and to participate in the public consultation click HERE