Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 October 2018
218. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of species of wild bird, including game, now deemed extinct here North and South; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41733/18]
View answerUnder Article 12 of the EU Birds Directive (2009/147/EC), which provides the legislative framework for the conservation of wild birds in Ireland, Member States report on the implementation of the directive and the trends in bird populations. Ireland’s most recent Article 12 report noted that one species, the Corn Bunting, is now extinct as a breeding bird in Ireland. This farmland bird was associated with arable farming and was common in the coastal counties of Ireland in the early 1900s but experienced a decline in numbers and breeding range over the following decades. By the early 1990s the population was thought to be less than 30 pairs. No confirmed breeding records are available for this century indicating that this farmland songbird species became extinct in the intervening period.
The latest list of Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland (north and south), produced by BirdWatch Ireland and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, identifies several other farmland songbirds as being of particular conservation concern (e.g. Twite, Yellowhammer, Whinchat) as well as game birds (e.g. Grey Partridge, Red Grouse, Woodcock), breeding waders (e.g. Curlew, Dunlin and Golden Plover), ducks (e.g. Pintail, Shoveler, Common Scoter) and others (e.g. Corncrake, Barn Owl).
My Department operates and/or funds, a number of conservation programmes, as resources allow, aimed at improving the status of some of these species including Curlew, Grey Partridge and Corncrake.
