Nature is worryingly absent from the National Development Plan review

Irish Examiner

19 hours ago

Albert Einstein once said, look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. But even somebody with the cerebral capacity of Einstein would struggle to understand and get their head around the latest National Development Plan.
This is a plan which purports to chart the progress of the country over the coming years, but which bizarrely fails to allocate any finance to nature in the middle of, what our current Taoiseach had referred to as, a biodiversity crisis.
Low on detail, high on promises was how the Irish Examiner's Mick Clifford Podcast accurately described the NDP. Unfortunately when it comes to nature, it was worse – no detail and not even a promise.
The gutting of nature from the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund (ICNF) to finance transport, energy and water infrastructure projects in the National Development Plan is very alarming, deeply disappointing and flies in the face of the Government's previous guarantees on nature restoration.
The decision is even more concerning given that the Programme for Government committed that the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund will 'ensure ongoing protection for our environment for future generations', while also committing to the development of Ireland's Nature Restoration Plan which requires ambitious nature restoration at land and at sea under the EU's flagship Nature Restoration Law.
However, the National Development Plan announced by the Government this week has allocated nothing to nature, instead taking €3.15 billion from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund for transport, energy and water infrastructure.
It appears that the Government is saying one thing but doing the opposite on nature restoration. It has decided to gut Nature from the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund, instead using the budget to fund investment in transport, energy and water infrastructure.
The Environmental Pillar has repeatedly criticised the absence of ringfencing for nature within the ICN fund, criticism that has been fully vindicated this week by the Government's shortsightedness. There is now a genuine concern that nature restoration funding is losing out to infrastructure projects that prioritise economic growth over measures to address the biodiversity emergency.
It seems like a cynical sleight of hand to use ICN funding for a project that has been talked about for decades in various different forms and which pre-dates the fund.
The Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund's purpose is to support State expenditure:
where there is a significant deterioration in the economic or fiscal position of the State,
and in the years 2026 to 2030, on designated environmental projects.
But, while everyone acknowledges that we are living in uncertain times economically, the Government is not proposing to invoke the 'economic deterioration' provision, designed 'to provide for countercyclical capital expenditure in the event of an economic or fiscal downturn' (NTMA), so all the allocated spending for 2026 to 2030 must therefore be for 'designated environmental projects'.
Under Section 20 of the Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Act 2024, such projects must contribute to the achievement of various national and EU environmental regulations such as on water quality, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, the Birds and Habitats Directives, the National Biodiversity Action Plan and the Wildlife Act.
However, the proposed allocation of the €3.15 billion that can be spent before 2030, laid out by Government in the NDP, contains no allocation for nature and looks much more like what the fund would be spent on if the 'economic deterioration' condition was being invoked to ensure 'countercyclical capital expenditure' in infrastructure.
This is not an argument against funding for Metrolink. Ireland needs greater investment in public transport – whether it is Metrolink in Dublin, light rail in other major cities, expanded bus routes and active transport infrastructure. But in this case, there is over €100 billion of other money allocated to infrastructure by 2030 under the NDP so that provision clearly does not apply.
This is not to mention the billions of euros in Apple back-taxes which Jack Chambers in a budget statement last October said provided the country with one-off revenue that has the capacity to be transformational and address the known challenges that we face in housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure.
An artist's impression of the MetroLink rail project's Tara Street entrance. The Government has decided to gut Nature from the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund, instead using the budget to fund investment in transport, energy and water infrastructure. File picture
And then, there's the €305 million from the sale of the final AIB shares. It is all the more disappointing therefore that the dedicated Climate and Nature Fund is being diverted from its nature focus to further boost infrastructure spending which is not short of other funding.
The lack of any funding for nature in the financial allocations for the NDP is even more shocking and worrying given that the State is currently engaging in an extensive consultation process involving farmers, fishers and environmentalists to inform the development of a national Nature Restoration Plan. The financing of that plan remains a key concern for all stakeholders.
Ireland's Nature Restoration Plan has to be underpinned by significant investment. The Government has repeatedly told farmers that any nature restoration under the Nature Restoration Law would be funded and voluntary and that the main burden of restoration would take place on public lands.
They have clearly been misleading farmers and Irish society as there is no indication that the Government intends to allocate new and additional funding towards nature restoration. And there is no sign that the Government is willing to take the kind of action that is needed to utilise Coillte and Bord Na Mona lands to the extent that is needed to achieve Ireland's legally binding targets.
The Environmental Pillar is calling for the ringfencing of a substantial proportion of the Climate and Nature Fund for spending on nature. And we are in the fortunate position of knowing how much and where to invest that money. Unlike the vague and abstract NDP, a detailed financial needs assessment for biodiversity is available.
Ireland needs greater investment in public transport – whether it is Metrolink in Dublin, light rail in other major cities, expanded bus routes and active transport infrastructure. File photo: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie
The National Parks and Wildlife Service tasked UCD with carrying out a Biodiversity Financial Needs Assessment on how much would be required to reach the targets of the 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030 and international obligations including the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.
This was delivered in 2021 and updated in 2023 to take account of the draft Nature Restoration Law. The study estimated the expenditure required for nature restoration in Ireland at €463.5m per annum, according to the report Funding Ireland's Biodiversity: A Financial Needs Assessment for Biodiversity in Ireland.
And last year, Natural Capital Ireland was commissioned by the Irish Environmental Network to deliver a report on high-level recommendations for funding nature restoration in Ireland. This project brought together a diverse group of subject matter experts from academia, business, environmental NGOs, farming, government departments, and semi-state bodies to workshop high-level recommendations for funding nature restoration.
These would be good places for the Government to start if it's serious about nature restoration.
Nature is conspicuous by its absence in the National Development Plan. Given that we are at a crucial time in relation to the biodiversity crisis in Ireland, it is inexcusable that no funding was earmarked for nature restoration.
Biodiversity supports and underpins our society, whether it is food production or clean air or a stable climate. It is imperative that nature is adequately funded.
Ciarán Brennan is communications officer at the Irish Environmental Network