Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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176. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if Inland Fisheries Ireland has considered examining the feasibility of reintroducing the grey wolf species as a measure to improving salmon stocks as a result of the trophic cascade effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25901/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The remit of my Department and of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) as regards wildlife is confined to inland fisheries species. The Department and IFI have no remit in relation to the matter raised by the Deputy. The feasibility of reintroducing the grey wolf is a matter for consideration by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

That Department has advised that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (the IUCN) have developed Guidelines on Reintroductions and Conservation Translocations. These guidelines were developed by conservation experts and practitioners and they provide the benchmark for international best practice in this field. The IUCN document sets out an initial checklist for those considering a reintroduction project. One of the first requirements is that: “There should .... be strong evidence that the threats that caused any previous extinction have been ... removed.”

Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht have further advised my Department that any feasibility assessment for the reintroduction of the wolf to Ireland would not meet this requirement.