Ireland needs to “pick up our game” when it comes to biodiversity, the Director General of the National Parks and Wildlife Service has said.

Today, the Government is launching its fourth National Biodiversity Plan, amid warnings that 50% of native Irish plant species have declined in the last 20 years.

There have also been some alarming declines in certain species - such as the swift.

A swift. Picture by: Photo by Brenda Sheridan for Trinity College, Dublin.

The fourth plan aims to protect and restore nature across the country and National Parks and Wildlife Service Director General Niall Ó Donnchú said it is imperative the decline in biodiversity is reversed.

“We are the first generation to have the tools to demonstrate to us how severe that crisis is,” he said.

“But we’re also the last generation that can do anything about that and that is a sobering thought.

“The time for action is now; we have made significant progress but we need to pick up our game.

“This is what this National Biodiversity Plan is about.”

A red squirrel

Proposals contained in the plan include expanding National Parks, tackling invasive species and strengthening efforts on wildlife crime.

Mr Ó Donnchú said the plan is serious and could have a real impact on the island’s biodiversity.

“It is the fourth plan but it is the first to be backed by statute,” he said.

“And it is the first to be backed by a significant amount of resourcing - [both] financial resourcing and people resourcing.”

In 2022, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) urged nations to address biodiversity loss “to secure our own health and well-being alongside that of the planet.”

Main image: A puffin. Picture by: BBC