Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is grave concern in my part of the world at the shooting down of Heather in the Waterville area prior to the weekend. This female hen harrier, as we know, was tagged with a satellite tracking device shortly after she hatched in 2013 in east Kerry. She quickly became a star as her travels were followed by thousands of people on an online blog. The hen harrier project has been run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and a local community group, IRD Duhallow. As we know, the hen harrier is a protected species under the Wildlife Act. Thousands of people have followed the bird's progress from Kerry to the Wicklow mountains through a satellite tracking device.