Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is aware that the curlew has been in longitudinal decline. The Green Party did not put a conservation programme in place, but we have done so, as the Deputy mentioned. We established the curlew task force and the curlew conservation programme in order to help the curlew. In the period 2016 to 2018, my predecessors and I approved €500,000 for the curlew conservation programme.

The primary issues for breeding curlew in Ireland include habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, exacerbated by unsustainable predation rates. According to Dr. Barry O'Donoghue, however, whose testimony the Deputy is aware I gave on Committee Stage and who is the national expert on the curlew, burning is not suspected to be a significant cause of the population decline, given that localised burning was a traditional practice in the hills throughout the time when the curlew and other species like red grouse flourished in Ireland while the strongholds for curlew in Britain happened to be on the grouse moors, which are managed, including by burning.

Regarding the Heritage Bill, there are regulations on the cutting of hedges and provisions on burning.

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