Ms Oonagh Duggan:

BirdWatch Ireland met with the Wicklow Uplands Council last year to discuss this. We all agreed that farming in the uplands was becoming as Red Listed as the birds in the uplands and that we needed to sit down and talk about the issues in detail. There was divergence in terms of the timing of when this should be done. I cannot speak for the Wicklow Uplands Council but proper resources and proper policy to help both farming in the uplands and wildlife in the uplands is what is needed. That can only be achieved by sitting around the table and talking about it, with the support of the Departments in question.