Michael Healy-Rae
Question:357. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding deer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28157/14]
View answerTuesday, 1 July 2014
Questions (357)
Written answers
Responsibility for the protection of wild deer in the State under the Wildlife Acts rests with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. I understand, however, that there is an annual open season during which deer can legally be shot under licence. Control of deer on private property is the responsibility of landowners who may apply to the Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht for a permission under section 42 of the Wildlife Acts to cull deer where this is necessary outside the annual open seasons. These permissions offer a facility whereby a person can obtain a permit, on a case by case basis, to prevent serious damage caused by individual deer on specific lands. Permissions are issued by D/AHG where there is evidence of such damage.
I am aware of the issues around an increasing deer population, including its effects on agriculture and forestry. Deer management is complex, with different views held by various stakeholders and addressing deer related problems will require a high degree of agreement, co-operation and concerted action by the stakeholders and Departments concerned. My Department, together with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, will shortly set up a non-statutory Irish Deer Management Forum, independently chaired with relevant officials from the two Departments as well as other stakeholders representing hunting, farming, forestry and conservation interests.
My Department has received complaints about growing deer numbers in certain parts of the country and putative associations with higher levels of Bovine TB have been alleged. However, my Department’s belief is that, in so far as TB is concerned, the underlying problem in these areas is driven primarily by badgers and not by deer. In fact, research has shown that deer as a species are not particularly effective as maintenance hosts for TB except when numbers are high. In this context, an exercise conducted in 2007-2008 focused on TB strain-typing in cattle, deer and badgers, found a significantly higher prevalence in badgers than in either cattle or deer.
With respect to TB in deer in Kerry, in the period since January 2011, samples from only 4 deer have been submitted through my Department’s regional veterinary laboratories as suspect TB. These samples were examined and cultured but TB was not confirmed in any deer (parasitic lesions and localised abscesses). My Department therefore has no recent evidence to substantiate claims that the deer in Kerry are responsible for transmission of TB to cattle.
Notwithstanding the complaints about high levels of TB in particular areas, there has been a very significant improvement in TB incidence in cattle over the past number of years: herd incidence has fallen from 5.9% in 2008 to 3.9% in 2013. The number of reactors has declined from 30,000 to 15,600 during the same period. While it is difficult to attribute the downward trends exclusively to a single factor, my Department believes that much of the improvement in the TB situation, in recent years, is attributable to the effective implementation of the badger removal programme.