Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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536. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the members of the public that were involved in the survey in relation to the first major public consultation into the impact of deer, that is, gun clubs, farming groups and so on (details supplied); the research that has been carried out into non-lethal deer population control; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22761/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that responsibility for wildlife, including deer, lies with the National Parks and Wildlife Service within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

As Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, I am, however, aware of the importance of the sustainable management of our national deer population for agriculture, as well as our nature ecosystems. In order to address this the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and I convened the Deer Management Strategy group last Autumn, under the Chairmanship of Teddy Cashman. On foot of a recommendation of the strategy group a public consultation on the management of deer was launched late last year. This was the first major public consultation into the impact of deer and it received over 1,500 submissions from all over the country and all walks of life.

Some of the findings of the public consultation are that the main concerns regarding the impacts of deer to emerge from the consultation were biodiversity loss / damage (82%), damage to agricultural crops / grazing (81%), road safety issue (80%), preventing the establishment of new forests (71%) and a role in the epidemiology of TB in cattle (67%). Submissions also outlined that in order to tackle the problems raised by deer, 86% of the survey’s respondents said culling of deer is needed. Some 78% said supports for landowners to manage deer is required while 69% said a domestic venison industry should be expanded.

The Deer Management Strategy Group will now progress the process by convening a series of stakeholder working groups to develop recommendations to managing the deer population effectively.