COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 12, 2021

QUESTION NO. 19

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive to confirm supports he is offering to Biodiversity Projects in our County and will he make a statment

REPLY:

A range of projects are being implemented under the SDCC Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).  These projects are co-ordinated by the Heritage Officer and agreed by the Internal Steering Group for Biodiversity.  Progress on the Plan’s implementation is reported to Council through the meetings of the Joint SPC Sub-committee for Biodiversity.

Funding for biodiversity projects is drawn primarily from the County Heritage Plan budget (LUPT) and from EWCC.  Additional biodiversity funding is also sought from external funding bodies including the National Biodiversity Action Plan implementation programme managed by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

The key projects underway in 2021 which involve partnership funding between SDCC and NPWS are: Survey of Pollinator Sites in 3 Council Parks (Tymon, Waterstown, and Lucan Demesne); Ecological Survey of St. Finian’s Churchyard, Lucan.  The outcome of an additional application for funding from NPWS for an Invasive Species training video is awaited.

Other BAP projects and activities undertaken and funded under the BAP/Heritage Plan budget include: Tymon Park Hedgerow and Woodland Survey; Swan-tagging project in Council Parks; support for the National Tidy Towns Pollinator Award; purchase of biodiversity information booklets. The Heritage Officer also continues to submit weekly biodiversity columns to the local Echo and has contributed to the development of biodiversity policy for the preparation of the draft County Development Plan (Green Infrastructure Chapter and Heritage Chapter).

While responsibility for the implementation of the Biodiversity Action Plan rests within the remit of LUPT, actions for biodiversity that address objectives in the BAP are also undertaken or managed by other Council sections.

The Community Environment Action Fund promotes sustainable development by supporting small-scale environmental projects at local level. A number of biodiversity projects have been supported under this Fund in recent years. The grant is co-funded with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and in 2019/20, €40,000 was distributed to groups.

SDCC’s Environmental Awareness Office is also working with the other Dublin Local Authorities and the Regional Waste Management Office to deliver a pilot Composting for Schools Project.  The pilot project will work with schools to prevent and manage landscape trimmings and garden cuttings on site so that they can become ‘zero landscape waste’ schools, as well as help encourage the use of brown bins for food waste.  Both will help schools eliminate disposal of biodegradable waste to save money and to generate compost that can be used in school gardens for growing flowers, vegetables etc.

SDCC has signed up to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and EWCC’s drafting and implementation of  SDCC's own Pollinator Action Plan 2021 – 2025 tailors the Council’s actions to the environment of SDCC’s parks and open spaces.  This helps to deliver the Council’s commitment to promoting habitats for pollinators in this county and to addressing the rapid decline in our bee populations. One third of bee species in Ireland are threatened with extinction due to the reduction in the amount of food (flowers) and safe nesting sites in our landscapes

Some of our actions to benefit pollinators and biodiversity have been underway for some time within our parks. For example, in order to develop wildflower meadows specific to our county, altered mowing regimes have been in place in a number of the Council’s larger parks/open-spaces. This reduced frequency of grass cutting allows wildflowers to flower and set seed, providing additional opportunities for pollinating insects which are currently challenged by habitat loss and chemical usage.  The sites, to date, have been selected by Public Realm staff and the Council's Heritage Officer, based on criteria such as their particular soil types, the nature of their botanical composition, and their location within a park.  In 2021, the wildflower meadow locations total 139 ha.  Surveys are underway in these meadows to quantify their benefit to pollinators. It is intended to increase the amount of meadowland in the county in line with the outcomes of the surveys.’