Éamon Ó Cuív demands restoration of Wildlife Amendment Bill
Éamon Ó Cuív pressed for the immediate restoration of the Wildlife Amendment Bill to the Dáil order paper, criticising a year-and-a-half delay and procedural confusion. He argued the bill — covering raised bog habitats, natural heritage area orders and new biodiversity duties — should be finalised and enacted without further delay.
Bill history and purpose
The deputy outlined the bill's origins, noting a statement on 1 December 2016 that the Wildlife Amendment Bill was an important piece of legislation and a commitment in the programme for a partnership government. He said the Bill completed stages in the Dáil and the Shannad, incorporating proposals to review blanket bog natural heritage areas and to place a duty on public bodies to promote conservation of biodiversity.
Procedural obstacles and standing orders
The speech emphasised procedural complexity after the Bill lapsed on the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil on 14 January 2020. He cited Standing Order DSO 227 and DSO 228 as governing the return and consideration of Shannad amendments and said there is no mechanism under standing orders to move amendments outside those provisions. Officials have been working with the Houses of the Oireachtas to clarify options and the implications of any restoration motion, which would be subject to a ruling of the Cairncola on the finalised text.
Government action and timeline
The deputy expressed frustration that the issue remained unresolved nearly a year and a half after the Government was informed, noting the Government was elected at the end of June and the matter was still pending. He said officials and deputies, including meetings with Senator Alison Mary Higgins and others, have been engaged and that restoration is a high priority for his department.
Next steps and priorities
He said the government intends to seek Oireachtas approval for the changes and that once procedural complexities are resolved he will bring a memorandum to Government on next steps, with a hope this would be possible in the early part of 2022. He also highlighted the statutory footing of the National Biodiversity Action Plan as an important element and welcomed deputies for raising the issue to refocus efforts to get the Bill back on the order paper.
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Good morning, I would like to thank the Minister for coming in and particularly to thank him for coming in and taking a matter that pertains to his personal responsibilities as Minister. Minister, on 1 December 2016, the then Minister said in the Dáil that the Wildlife Amendment Bill 216 is an important piece of legislation. The bringing forward of this Bill is a commitment in the programme for a partnership government. After that, that Bill went through the Dáil, through the Seanad where it was amended. When the Government collapsed in 2020, the Bill fell at that stage because all Bills fall at the end of the Dáil session. So what had to be done at that stage was to bring the Bill back into the Dáil to just either accept or reject the Seanad amendments and finalise the Bill. Now just like the mobility scheme, we seem in this country to come into a world where we talk about doing things but nothing ever happens. Now, I think the House is owed a detailed explanation of how it has taken. Two years since the election, you will argue that the Government was informed, that is another day's work, but it is nearly a year and a half in Dáil time since the Government was informed. And we still have not got this very simple process back into the Dáil to finalise this Bill and bring it into law. However, the question we have today is when will this Bill be before Dáil Éireann for completion? And, you know, if there really is a procedural issue with the councillor, I would have thought that he could have sorted it out in a year and a half. In fact, I would have thought that he could have sorted it out in a week, not to mind a year and a half. I want to thank the deputies for raising this and hopefully it will help expedient matters, but I do not think it is as simple and there are some complexities here which I will try and outline. The principal purpose of the Wildlife Amendment Bill as initiated was to provide a review of raised bog habitats, the making, amendment and revocation of natural heritage area orders and for the purposes to amend the Wildlife Amendment Act of 2000. The Bill was originally presented to Dáil Éireann. There was a very constructive debate on the Bill in both houses, including the adoption of the Deputy's own proposals in relation to extending its scope and providing for a review of blanket bog natural heritage areas. And later in the Shannad in relation to placing a duty on public bodies to promote conservation of biodiversity. I think this was a really important and innovative section of the Bill. As a deputy will be aware, the Bill has completed all stages in the Dáil and the Shannad and has been returned to the Dáil for consideration of the various amendments made by the Shannad. That is to say the Bill was at what colloquially is known as the creamless stage when the Bill lapsed from the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil on 14 January 2020. Standing Order DSO 227 provides that where a Bill passed by the Dáil is subsequently amended and passed by the Shannad, those amendments are then returned to the Dáil for its consideration. DSO 228 provides that the Dáil may accept, amend or reject the Shannad amendments. Amendments in the Dáil to the Shannad amendments may only be moved where they are consequential upon the acceptance, amendment or rejection of a Shannad amendment. There is no mechanism under standing orders to move amendments to a Bill returned to the Dáil under DSO 227 other than those set out in DSO 228. It is the government's intention to proceed to seek approval of the Oireachtas for the important changes proposed in the Bill. However, deputies will appreciate that the sequence of events I have described is an unusual one. My officials have been working with colleagues in the Houses of the Oireachtas to establish how it would be possible and what might be the appropriate procedure around restoring the Bill to the Dáil order paper and to clarify the implications of any decision in this regard. Ultimately, this process would, of course, be subject to the ruling of the Cairncola on examination of the finalised text of the proposed restoration motion and any associated amendments. Deputies will appreciate that restoration of this Bill to the order paper is not straightforward. However, once the complexities have been resolved, it is my intention to bring a memo to the Government in relation to the next steps for the Bill. I hope that this will be possible in the early part of 2022. Just to give reassurance to the deputies that I have met with a number of deputies and Senator Alison Mary Higgins to discuss issues of concern, this is a high priority for me and for my department. There are other elements in it around the statutory footing of the National Biodiversity Action Plan, which are really important to me as well. We do want to expedite this as soon as we can and I really do appreciate the deputies raising this today because it certainly puts focus and focuses minds on getting this back onto the order paper. First of all, I would be very interested to hear whether there was a meeting with Deputy Fitzmaurice. It certainly wasn't with me and I think both of us had a big interest in this particular Bill. But to be quite honest, I am still totally baffled. The Government was elected at the end of June, it has been a year, and from June to what is nearly now December to resolve the issue now. It seems to me in my little simple mind there were two ways very, very quickly around this. Number one was to change the standing orders of the Dáil to deal for this eventuality because I presume what happened was nobody thought of this eventuality. It was highly unlikely, but unlikely does happen. Or the other way was to reintroduce us a new Bill in the Dáil. The Bill was ready to go as passed in the Shannad as the Wildlife Amendment Bill 2020 or no, it will be 2021. Put it really quickly through the Dáil, put it really quickly through the Shannad, it has all been agreed, and then Oxo were home and dried. So it does not seem to me that the procedure should have held us up, which you are trying to tell us. The procedure should have held us up for a year, and as I said we are heading for a year and a half now because you have told us it would not happen. Certainly, I think I would be more than happy to meet with the deputies to try and expediate this. Certainly, as I said in my opening statement, it is our priority to try and get this through. But the complexities, as I have outlined, are there, and I think we have to try and work with them and try and get to resolve it. We did discuss it informally, I think probably shortly after the Government was formed, and I did have a number of meetings with Senator Alison Mary Higgins in relation to it as well to try and move this along. So I think I just want to give assurance that it is of our highest priority to try and get this resolved once and for all. I would be more than happy to meet with the deputies to discuss it further and see how we can move this along. Thank you.
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