Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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353. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government with regard to the warnings to the general public posted on his Department/NPWS’s website concerning the current, persistent avian flu outbreak (details supplied) and specifically with regard to the warnings about risks from faecal waste from wild birds, if he is satisfied that these publications provide sufficient transparency regarding the public health risks for example to schoolchildren/schools, patients/hospitals, food businesses and residential areas where large colonies of urban gulls are known to have established for breeding purposes in the period March-September each year, and are also known to forage year round; and if he is not satisfied with the current level of publicity and transparency regarding the public health risks, he will outline the way his Department/NPWS intends to improve transparency and awareness. [51769/22]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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354. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government with regard to the national warnings to the general public posted on his Department/NPWS’s website concerning the current, persistent avian flu outbreak (details supplied) and specifically with regard to the published warnings about risks from faecal waste from wild birds, his attention has been drawn to the best practice advice for the proper methods of cleaning high-amenity locations/sites contaminated with faecal waste from wild birds for example screening off of affected areas, chemical treatment and use of full respiratory equipment by staff and workers, and for example that power washers should not be used as they cause wide dispersal of contaminated micro-droplets than can be inhaled/ingested by workers and passers-by; and if he will consider that such best practice advice for cleaning contaminated locations/sites should be well publicised, especially to ensure that schools, hospitals, supermarkets, restaurants and so on where high density colonies of seagulls are known to breed in the period March to September each year and deposit large amounts of faeces and detritus, should be properly advised as to how to clean and indeed how not to clean such locations. [51770/22]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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355. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government with regard to the national warnings to the general public posted on his Department/NPWS’s website concerning the current, persistent avian flu outbreak (details supplied), if he will outline the way all risks from the avian flu and other attendant risks for example from faecal contamination from wild birds are documented and managed in his Department’s/NPWS’s and local authorities’ formal Health and Safety Statements under the terms of the Health and Safety Authority’s legislation; and if he will provide a copy of the pertinent sections of the NPWS’s up to date, pertinent Health and Safety Statements, procedures, advices and details of all protective equipment provided and applied towards the protection of staff and contract employees who may be exposed to such risks in the course of their work. [51771/22]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 353 to 355, inclusive, together.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is not the lead organisation in relation to matters raised. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has responsibly for avian influenza testing in Ireland and the NPWS will always contact them when it becomes aware of such issues. The situation is being monitored intensively and any suspected cases reported to DAFM for testing.

In line with our own protocols NPWS staff do not handle dead or sick wild birds , nor do they handle apparently healthy ‘most at risk bird species (that is water birds, raptors and corvids)’ .

In certain circumstances, however, NPWS volunteers for Avian Influenza collection teams may handle suspect dead/sick birds or water birds/raptors/corvids, but only under specific conditions as set out in the protocol including training, vaccination and PPE Equipment. In terms of Occupational Health and Safety the NPWS are following all formal recommendations and risk management controls including the use of PPE and training as issued by the DAFM and will continue to update its operating procedures in line with these recommendations.

DAFM also carries out year round avian influenza surveillance sampling. In areas where Avian Influenza has already been confirmed, it may not be necessary to collect further birds for sampling. The avian influenza virus is very contagious amongst birds and can survive for several weeks in the environment. The faeces of infected birds contains a high level of virus and so the area can remain infective irrespective of whether bird carcasses are removed from an area or not. If is deemed appropriate for public amenity reasons to remove dead birds or to display signage, etc., e.g., on beaches or areas with frequent human footfall, it is a matter for the Local Authority.