Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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411. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will conduct a survey of the badger population in view of the evidence of an alarming drop in numbers. [19345/14]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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Under the Wildlife Acts 1976-2012, badgers are afforded the status of protected wild animals. Although they are not listed under the European Union Habitats Directive, they are fauna listed in Appendix III of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (or Bern Convention). Under this Convention, each Contracting Party, including Ireland, must take appropriate and necessary legislative and administrative measures to ensure the protection of such wild fauna and to ensure that any exploitation of such wild fauna shall be regulated in order to keep the populations out of danger.

Population estimates for badgers have been generated on a number of occasions in recent years and do not indicate any significant reduction in badger numbers. The most up to date figures, which are based on a peer reviewed paper published in February this year by scientists in UCD, Teagasc and in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, puts the national population at between 70,000 and 90,000 animals. This closely matches the previous population figure of 84,000 calculated in 2009 by researchers in University College Cork.

My Department will continue to use all available scientific peer reviewed research when implementing badger conservation policy in Ireland.