Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Casey for giving us those very stark statistics regarding the impact of deer in Kildare and west Wicklow. As somebody who lives in Kildare, I have ongoing engagement with the Irish Farmers Association branches covering Kildare and west Wicklow. This issue has come up quite a number of times. Only recently, about three weeks ago, there was a consultation meeting on the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, in Kilcullen and farmers from west Wicklow brought up this issue. At a subsequent meeting last week, I asked about one of those farmers and was told that he had lost 25% of his herd to TB the week before because of the overrun of deer in the area. That is absolutely shocking.

I am really concerned that the Government has no long-term plan to protect the lands and livelihoods of those who live in this area and that the deer population will be allowed to remain unsustainable. There is no doubt that the surge in the deer population is impacting on our grasslands and our crops and aiding in the spread of bovine TB. The implementation of the wildlife control programme in Wicklow by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not to the standard required. The Minister of State committed additional resources in the budget to the wildlife control programme for next year. Will he assure farmers in Kildare and, particularly, west Wicklow that this money will be fully utilised in providing the staff resources necessary to implement a timely and effective wildlife control programme on the ground? This is very important. Senator Casey spoke about deer coming right up to the hotel. There is no doubt that they are encroaching further each year and mixing with cattle, thereby contributing to the level of TB in the herd.