(1)  Subject to this Act, the Director has the following functions:

(a) acting as a managing authority as required under this Act and giving advice and assistance to other managing authorities;

(b) keeping the setting aside of land for conservation purposes under review;

(c) carrying out, or arranging for the carrying out of, research and other activities that appear to the Director to be desirable in connection with the administration of this Act;

(d) carrying out, or promoting the carrying out of, educational activities, and providing and disseminating information, related to the conservation of the fauna, flora or geological diversity of the State or other matters arising in connection with the administration of this Act;

(e) providing to the Council and the special advisory committees such information as they may require and is reasonably available to the Director in connection with the carrying out of his or her functions under this Act;

(f) preparing plans, in relation to reserved lands, with a view to their submission to the Governor for approval as management plans for those lands and keeping the provisions of management plans under review;

(g) providing effective means for the enforcement of the regulations;

(h) carrying out functions, as agreed by the Director, in relation to land which is, or becomes, the subject of a conservation covenant under Part 5 of the Nature Conservation Act 2002 .

(2)  The Minister may give directions to the Director with respect to the carrying out of his or her functions under this Act and, in carrying out those functions, the Director is to comply with any such directions.

(3)  The Minister must not give a direction under subsection (2) with respect to the making by the Director of any recommendation required under any provision of this Act.