Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When the House returns in the autumn, I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on an issue my good colleague, Senator Ned O'Sullivan, raised last year. Some people scoffed at his remarks that seagulls were endangering society and taking food out of children's mouths, etc. Some in the media thought they were a bit of a joke, but the Senator is usually very level-headed and seldom flippant in his comments. It is interesting to note that no less a person than the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mr. David Cameron, has recorded his concern and worry about the behaviour of seagulls. He made his remarks because a tortoise and a child's pet, a terrier dog, had been killed in the recent past by seagulls. Fish, the normal food source for seagulls, are becoming more scarce and the number in the sea is probably only one third of the level 30 or 40 years ago. Seagulls have killed lambs and rabbits and we are reaching the stage where they are endangering society. Their behaviour is sometimes like that of a rabbit with myxomatosis or a cow with mad cow disease.