Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Casey. During the summer we spent a bit of time on the Wicklow Mountains after some of the fires with Wesley Atkinson and his team. It is critically important that the deer population is sustainably managed on which I am sure we all agree. This initiative will take hold. The streamlined issuing of licences is critically important and we have issued a significantly larger volume of licences this year so we need to do that.

In terms of meeting IFA representatives from counties Wicklow and Kildare, correspondence has come into our Department on the matter. Certainly, I know that officials will be more than happy to meet.

There is a responsibility from our perspective and that of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in terms of TB. We give a commitment here that this forum is the best place to address these issues. We also give a commitment, and I know this from speaking to my officials, that we want to address the issue because, as I said, it is not just an issue that both Senators have spoken about in terms of TB - it is also an issue for biodiversity because there has been significant damage, particularly to forestry. We have seen the impact in the national parks where deer have caused significant problems when we have tried to regenerate native woodlands in this country. I give a commitment to both Senators that certainly we want to work collaboratively to address the range of issues that we are dealing with in terms of deer management in Ireland.