Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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243. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the RAPTOR protocol is being fully implemented in terms of testing for secondary poisoning from rodenticides; the number of raptors that have been tested for poison in 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022 as part of this protocol; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31514/22]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The RAPTOR (Recording and Addressing Persecution and Threats to Our Raptors) protocol is a collaborative approach between the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), of my Department, the Veterinary Laboratory Service and State Laboratory. It was established in 2011 as a formal investigative process for bird of prey injury and mortality in Ireland. The RAPTOR protocol entails a significant amount of cross-departmental effort; from collecting and handling carcasses, injured birds and evidence, to X-rays, post-mortem examinations, DNA sampling, toxicological testing and follow-up investigations, data analysis, interpretation and reporting.

The total number of individuals of raptor species’ that have been submitted under the RAPTOR protocol for toxicology testing for the period between 1st January 2020 and 13th June 2022, is 92 (36 in 2020; 49 in 2021; and 7 to date in 2022).

The full suite of analytes (include rodenticides) tested for, by the State Laboratory under the RAPTOR Protocol, is given in Appendix 3 of the Irish Wildlife Manual number 126: Recording and Addressing Persecution and Threats to Our Raptors (RAPTOR): a review of incidents 2007–2019 which is available on the NPWS website at the following link: www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/IWM126.pdf.