Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 November 2018
309. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the species of birds, including game birds and animals, including hares, extinct or deemed to be under threat of extinction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46365/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI would refer the Deputy to my response to Parliamentary Question 218 of 11 October 2018 which provided information on birds considered extinct or under threat.
My Department, in conjunction with other bodies and experts, reviews the current knowledge on the status of species in reports called “Red Lists”. These are drawn up to internationally agreed standards, and are compiled for species groups, for example for mammals, sharks and rays, moths, bumble bees etc. The Red Lists for Ireland are available on https://www.npws.ie/publications .
Some 31,000 species of animals and plants have been recorded in Ireland, of which the vast majority are insects and other invertebrate species.
To date 3,237 species have been assessed, of which 83 species (2.5%) are considered to have become regionally extinct (i.e. no longer present in Ireland, although still occurring in other countries) and 468 species (14.5%) were classified as threatened.
The most recent Red List of Irish mammals was published in 2009. In that report, the Irish hare Lepus timidus was assessed as “least concern”. The Department is planning to update the mammal Red List in 2019 and the results of the ongoing national hare survey will be taken into consideration for that assessment.
