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Technical Working Groups

In addition to the Leaders' Forums and Community Conversation events, the Independent Advisory Committee is hearing from interdepartmental working groups that are staffed by subject matter experts from across Government. These groups are examining the requirements of the legislation, establishing the scientific evidence base and identifying targets. Once completed, these proposals will be submitted to the Committee for consideration. There are four groups:

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Land​

This interdepartmental technical working group is composed of officials from a number of Government Departments and State agencies including the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Inland Fisheries Ireland. The working group is charged with determining the scientific evidence base for national targets, indicators, monitoring systems, data requirements and potential restoration measures to fulfil the requirements of the Nature Restoration Law for terrestrial ecosystems, including forests, grasslands, rivers and floodplains, agricultural areas and pollinators. Work to date has focused on agreeing technical terms and definitions, establishing baselines using existing datasets and highlighting data gaps and determining existing schemes that contribute toward nature restoration. 

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Urban

Led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, this interdepartmental working group is carrying out technical work to establish the baselines, determine appropriate indicators and propose measures designed to achieve the targets pertaining to urban ecosystems as set out in the Nature Restoration Law. The working group includes representatives of local authorities, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Inland Fisheries Ireland. To date work has been completed on determining appropriate geospatial datasets and existing gaps and establishing the baseline for national restoration targets relating to urban green space and urban tree canopy cover as required by the regulation. 

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Marine

Led by the Marine Section of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and including representation from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Marine Institute and Bord Iascaigh Mhara, this interdepartmental working group is generating the scientific and technical evidence base to fulfil the Nature Restoration Law's requirements relating to marine and coastal ecosystems. This involves determining data requirements and gaps, monitoring and mapping needs and proposing national targets and indicators and appropriate measures for a broad range of ecosystem types including seagrass and sediment beds, shellfish beds, coral fields and coastal ecosystems. Given the complexity of mapping and determining the condition of marine ecosystems, work to date has focused on determining existing data sets, data gaps and future requirements. ​

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Finance

This technical interdepartmental working group is chaired by a nature finance expert from the UN Development Programme and includes officials from the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Finance, the National Treasury Management Agency, the Central Statistics Office and the National Economic and Social Committee. The working group is tasked with reviewing existing programmes supporting nature restoration, exploring the use of financial mechanisms to fund the delivery of the National Restoration Plan, to determine the high-level cost of implementation and complete preliminary work to inform a coherent national impact assessment. ​​​​​