Prosecution cases taken by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) staff have seen a significant increase year-on-year.
This was confirmed by Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, who provided details in the Dáil on enforcing environmental and wildlife legislation.
The Green Party minister said “the work of NPWS staff across the organisation has seen an increase in prosecution cases taken of 39% in 2023 compared to 2022 figures”.
Minister Noonan detailed there have been 169 cases sent by NPWS to the chief state solicitors office since 2019 that has “successfully closed over 118 cases since 2020”.
Since 2019, Noonan said that “from initial analysis, it appears cases for almost every county in the country were progressed for prosecution by NPWS in recent years”.
NPWS
There is set to be greater action by the NPWS towards tackling wildlife crime through the recruitment of additional NPWS staff.
This would mean, according to Minister Noonan, that there will be “more boots on the grounds patrolling, investigating, enforcing and educating”.
Minister Noonan also said that the NPWS are recruiting ecologists to “add scientific expertise and ballast across NPWS” to wildlife crime efforts.
“Citizen reporting is also an essential element in safeguarding nature and helping prevent wildlife crime.
“I would urge the public to report suspected wildlife crimes to An Garda Síochána or NPWS directly,” Minister Noonan added.
The Carlow–Kilkenny TD confirmed the Wildlife Act is being reviewed “to improve its enforceability” and that “a public consultation on this will be announced shortly”.
The 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan was launched on January 25 and the actions set out in the plan include commitments to increase collaboration on nature-friendly farming, and to further strengthen action on wildlife crime.
Minister Noonan said the target of action on wildlife crime will be “underpinned by enhanced collaboration” between the NPWS, An Garda Síochána, Revenue’s customs service and other authorities to “ensure adequate training and resourcing to enforce environmental and wildlife legislation”.