News
Advisory Committee completes its deliberations and recommendations on Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan
Date Released: Wednesday, March 11, 2026
The final meeting of the Independent Advisory Committee on Nature Restoration (IAC) took place today, Wednesday 11th March. The Committee was formed in late 2024 and was tasked with providing advice to the Minister with responsibility for Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan, Christopher O’Sullivan TD, on Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan, which is to be developed under the EU Nature Restoration Law.
The Committee has worked constructively and tirelessly over the last fifteen months to develop and agree a series of concrete recommendations designed to identify key enabling conditions and critical priorities for the effective delivery of Ireland’s plan. These recommendations are based on the wealth of expertise brought to the IAC’s deliberations by its broad membership which spanned farming, fishing, academia, local, national and EU authorities, and non-governmental organisations.
The Committee’s recommendations are also founded on an extensive and participatory stakeholder participation process to ensure that they reflect the views of the public, key groups and sectors. Finally, the IAC considered the outputs from technical, inter-departmental working groups across the themes of Land, Sea, Towns and Cities, and Finance.
The Minister expects to receive the recommendations from the IAC in the coming weeks and publish them as soon as possible thereafter. He intends to consider them as part of the development of Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan. The Plan is being drafted on an all-of-Government basis and will require Government approval before a first draft is submitted to the European Commission in September. Following feedback from the Commission and the outcomes of public consultation, the Plan will be finalised in 2027.
Further Information
More information about the IAC and its membership is available here: