National Parks and Wildlife Service

Tuesday, 23 May 2023

Questions (392)

Martin Browne

Question:

392. Deputy Martin Browne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps he has taken to ensure full, public visibility of the "available data" that the NPWS is using in order to inform decisions on the review of the Open Seasons Order and transparency as to whom the "stakeholders" are that NPWS is engaging with as part of this public consultation. [24092/23]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The public consultation for the review of the Open Seasons Order was published on the 22nd March and was open to everyone to put their views forward on an individual or organisational basis until 3rd May 2023. A productive stakeholder engagement meeting was held in Dublin on Friday 21st April with stakeholder groups invited across various interests such as hunting, farming, eNGOs & Heritage. All of these interests were represented at the meeting.

Datasets that informed the review of the Open Seasons Order include those listed below:

Ireland’s Article 12 Report for the period 2013 – 2018

The status of Red Grouse in Ireland and the effects of land use, habitat and habitat quality on their distribution. Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 50. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin, Ireland.

Countryside Bird Survey: Status and trends of common and widespread breeding birds 1998-2016 . Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 115. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland.

Irish Wetland Bird Survey: Waterbird Status and Distribution 2009/10-2015/16 . Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 106. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland.

Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS)

Bird Atlas 2007-11: the breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland . Thetford: BTO; 2013.

The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland: 1988-1991 . Author(s): Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A.. Published: January 1993 Burke B, Lewis LJ, Fitzgerald N, Frost T, Austin G, Tierney TD.

Estimates of waterbird numbers wintering in Ireland, 2011/12–2015/16. Irish Birds. 2018;11:1-2. Gilbert, Gillian, Andrew Stanbury, and Lesley Lewis.

Birds of conservation concern in Ireland 4: 2020–2026 ."Irish Birds 43 (2021): 1-22.

birdwatchireland.ie/app/uploads/2021/04/BOCCI-2020-2026.pdf

Further information on Ireland's Open Seasons Order and the public consultation can be found on my Department’s website and that of the National Parks and Wildlife Service at the respective links:

www.gov.ie/en/consultation/c98d4-public-consultation-on-amending-the-open-seasons-order-for-birds/