Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 415: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the estimated number of wild deer in County Wicklow for the years 2000 and 2010; the number of deer officially culled during both of these years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3794/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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As counting deer in afforested areas is highly prone to error, there is no reliable estimate of the deer population in Wicklow. The most recent estimate of the deer population in Wicklow Mountains National Park, which is largely an open landscape, was 2,800 in 2009. The number of wild deer culled in County Wicklow, based on figures provided by licensed deer hunters to my Department for the 2009/2010 season, was almost 13,700. This compares with just over 4,200 during the 1999/2000 hunting season.