Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 307: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of deer in County Wicklow; the percentage being tested for tuberculosis; the measures in place to cull the deer population; if there is correlation between the deer population and cattle herds being infected by TB; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24307/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Primary responsibility for all issues relating to wild deer rests with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. My Department does not have a role in the culling of wild deer or in relation to statistics on the deer population in Co. Wicklow. Any queries in relation to the deer population or proposals to cull deer in Wicklow should be taken up directly with the NPWS. I understand that the NWPS routinely issue licences, under a number of different categories, to shoot deer. One particular licence category is available to a farmer who suspects that deer are spreading disease to his livestock herd. My Department supports such licence applications by farmers and examines relevant post-mortem samples for TB.

Current research/epidemiological investigations indicate that the main source of TB infection in bovines is badgers and residual infection. However where epidemiological investigations indicate that the source of TB infection in bovines may be wild deer, which is infrequent, staff from my Department liaise with personnel from the NWPS with a view to taking samples from any wild deer that may be culled in the area. My Department has recently commenced a small preliminary exploration of strain types around a small number of TB infected farms in Wicklow in order to establish if there are any linkages between the TB strain in the deer and cattle population in the area. The results of this project are not yet to hand.