LATER THIS YEAR, Ireland will submit its draft Nature Restoration Plan to the European Commission for approval.

The Plan, a requirement of the Nature Restoration Law passed in 2024, is expected to include area targets for the restoration of a number of habitat types, such as old oak forests, flower-rich grasslands and marine reefs.

For the first time, these objectives come with binding deadlines which must be reached first by 2030, then 2040, and with all habitats and species in need of restoration in good condition by 2050. It is an exciting challenge for the country.

After an intense battle with farming organisations, many of whom wanted the law to be scrapped, the government agreed that the drive between now and 2030 will be focused on public land. Farmers are off the hook, at least in the short term.

Ireland’s not so green isle

Ireland is unusual in that the State owns relatively little of the land (although it owns all of the seabed in our territorial waters), only about 8.5 per cent in fact, with most of this Coillte plantation forestry.

Fewer than 1,000 km2 fall within National Parks, but this figure has been increasing in recent years. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the agency responsible for nature conservation, reports that the State bought 3,614 hectares between 2020 and September 2025 across 16 counties, with a sharp increase from 2023.

In December 2025, it was announced that 40.5 hectares of land were purchased to greatly increase the size of the Glen of the Downs Nature Reserve in Co. Wicklow, to expand its oak forest.

In taking this approach, Taoiseach Micheál........

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