Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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309. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 278, 279, 283, 285, 290 and 291 of 14 December 2021, if he will provide a list of the bodies with which his officials are engaging; if he will provide copies of correspondence between his Department and the bodies on this topic; and the extent to which he is reliant upon and or still waiting for responses from each of these bodies towards finalisation of the wild bird derogation declarations for 2022-2023. [13836/22]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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310. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 278, 279, 283, 285, 290 and 291 of 14 December 2021, the licensing and or other protective options for schools, schoolchildren and staff which have large flocks of gulls which are not nesting on the school properties but are visiting the schools at food break times, aggressively foraging and attacking the children and staff (details supplied). [13837/22]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 309 and 310 together.

My Officials have made contact with the Department of Health, Fingal County Council, the European Commission and its own Legal Advisor in relation to progressing the recommendations contained in the first interim report of the Urban Gulls Consultative Committee. My Officials will continue to progress these issues towards the conclusion of this work. Submissions, will, as is customary, be published.

In terms of schools, and/or any other location, there is a facility under Section 35 of the Wildlife Acts 1976 which allows licence applications to be made to apply to use a decoy, or an instrument or appliance, including electrical or other recording apparatus emitting or imitating birdcalls (including distress calls), intended for the purpose of repelling, scaring or capturing a protected wild bird. All such applications are investigated by local NPWS staff and recommendations made on the most practical method of stopping or controlling the problem.