Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 December 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Eradication of TB: Discussion

Mr. Teddy Cashman:

No. I referred to the estate of Lord Hamilton earlier. If a deer is shot on farmland adjacent to that estate, the farmer is compensated for the weight of the deer got on his or her land. We have not got that far here yet. Many farmers just want to get the deer gone, and the hunter will need to be compensated. It is a complex area to try to figure out. There are many trained deer hunters. Another point to consider here is the reason we have the training for deer hunters. There are a few aspects to it. One is that they have to be able to stalk the deer, while the second is that they must be able to humanely shoot the deer. That is very important. In other words, they need to have the right training. Three different agencies are providing training for deer hunters in Ireland. Another aspect of this is that the hunters need to be able to disembowel the deer on site to ensure the carcases can be hung within a certain time to be bled and make the meat suitable for human consumption. There are several aspects that need to be considered here.