AIE -010-2023

Please see below responses to each of your questions in your request:

1. Any data audits conducted by or for NPWS to identify environmental datasets under the Open Data Directive
No data audits were conducted by of for NPWS in the specified request period of July 22nd 2021 to 18th January 2023 to identify environmental datasets under the Open Data Directive.

2. Directive 2019/1024/EU introduces the concept of high value datasets (HVDs). Please list any HVDs identified by NPWS
The European Commission’s ‘Implementing Regulation laying down a list of specific high-value datasets and the arrangements for their publication and re-use’ was recently published on 21st January 2023. NPWS have not yet identified data sets which meet the criteria specified in this regulation.

3. Under Regulation 4 of SI 376/2021 all Departments/Offices and relevant bodies under their aegis are obliged to supply to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform with information as requested from time to time, such as open data progress reports. Provide copies of the NPWS progress reports as supplied to PER.
No NPWS progress reports were supplied to PER in the specified request period of July 22nd 2021 to 18th January 2023.

4. All Departments/Offices and relevant bodies under their aegis must assign responsibility to an officer for matters arising under these Regulations in line with the national Open Data Strategy. Please provide contacts for any Open Data officers appointed at NPWS from 2021 to date.
NPWS is part of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Departments Open Data section can be contacted at : opendata@housing.gov.ie.
No NPWS Open Data officers have been appointed in the request period July 22nd 2021 to 18th January 2023.

5. In line with Regulation 13 of SI 376/2021, the details of any new exclusive arrangements being entered into must be published online at least two months before they come into force. Please provide list of any exclusive arrangements agreed to date by NPWS.
Exclusive arrangements have not been identified to date.

6. Any exemptions sought by NPWS to the release of open data, and which datasets these exemptions related to

NPWS Open Data policy for its biodiversity data is available at
https://www.npws.ie/maps-and-data/open-data-policy#:~:text=NPWS%20Data%20Available%20by%20Request&text=the%20Intellectual%20Property%20Rights%20or,is%20still%20in%20draft%20form

This sets out the key reasons where NPWS biodiversity datasets are not available as Open Data, a follows;
the protection of the environment to which such information relates, such as the location of rare species – see our guidelines on access and usage of NPWS sensitive data;
the Intellectual Property Rights or copyright of the data, or part thereof, belong to a third party that has not given permission for its re-use;
there is personal data in the dataset and data protection restrictions apply; the dataset is unpublished as it is still in draft form.

7. Public Bodies must draft an Open Data Publication Plan. Provide a copy of any NPWS draft or completed open data plans to date
As set out in the data strategy for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Department aims to build and manage an integrated data platform to inter alia deliver open data streams to the public by 2024

(https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/5fb13-data-strategy-foundations-sprint-2021-2024/)

8. All public bodies need to publish details of what data is available for re-use and the licencing conditions that apply (CC BY 4.0 Attribution advised). Please provide a list of (where this differs from data audit list, see above)

Where possible, NPWS publishes biodiversity data as Open Data, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

Details of NPWS biodiversity data licencing conditions are available at
https://www.npws.ie/maps-and-data/open-data-policy

NPWS biodiversity data is published to;
NPWS website http://www.npws.ie,
https://www.npws.ie/maps-and-data
ISDE (Irish Spatial Data Exchange)
http://www.isde.ie/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/home,
and harvested to;
https://www.data.gov.ie
https://osi.ie/services/geohive/.

NPWS data is also shared directly to the National Biodiversity Data Centre for onward publication via https://biodiversityireland.ie/

Licence details are provided in the metadata associated with each biodiversity data publication.

9. Copy of NPWS’s RPSI Policy (RPSI is Reuse of Public Sector Information)
Departmental level policy is publicly available at https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/cac56-re-use-of-public-sector-information/

Schedule of records
There are no records, no records are provided.