Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

It is healthy that we have such increasing numbers of the native red deer but they are invading neighbouring farms. It is becoming a serious problem given the increasing number of road accidents, as we read about recently. Unfortunately, a cull is necessary. I would like the Leader to ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to ensure that any necessary cull will deal, in the first instance, with the imported sika species. We should not deal with red deer, prematurely at least. They are majestic animals and a very fine species. A former Taoiseach managed to preserve the gene pool and gave assistance in that respect on his own island property off the coast. Perhaps the State could seek other places where we could preserve the gene pool of the native red deer.