Here you will find our response to the first public consultation on Ireland’s draft National Nature Restoration Plan (closed 1 July 2026).

This response was developed by the CIEEM members and the Ireland Policy Group.

The key recommendations of the response are:

1. Address funding for Nature:
   In order for essential Nature Resteration to take place in Ireland we need to ensure the availability of necessary funding and investment in the sector. We need to not only fund our departments to undertake this work and ensure the longevity of current projects, but also invest in the sector to ensure we have the knowledge and skills necessary.
2. Clarity on the regulatory and consenting pathway for delivering restoration at scale:
   ● Creation of a strategic land-use planning framework
   ● Creation of a National Nature Strategy
   ● Implementation of the Mitigation Hierarchy in all projects
   ● Development of a standardised, national biodiversity tool
   ● Ensure that the Habitats Directive does not become a barrier to restoration
3. Provision to establish the baseline contribution of existing schemes towards the targets:
   CIEEM recognises the numerous projects that are listed in this draft plan however we believe there is work needed to establish the impact they are having on nature restoration and link them back to the targets listed in Part B. This will allow an effective baseline to be established to monitor progress as well as identifying gaps and areas where further action is needed.
4. A public-communication strategy:
   This should focus on the co-benefits of nature restoration for society (including water quality, flood prevention, climate mitigation and adaptation, public health and recreation) should be a proposed measure. This is required to get the societal scale engagement needed for effective implementation of this plan.