Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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505. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps that will be taken to reduce the deer population following the consultation process carried out by his Department where 86% of the persons who took part in the survey said a culling of deer is required; if he will outline the plans in place to manage the increasing deer population; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30876/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, policy responsibility for deer and other wildlife resides with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

I am aware of the importance of the sustainable management of our national deer population for agriculture, forestry as well as overall biodiversity within 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 Mr. Teddy Cashman. On foot of a recommendation of the strategy group an open public consultation on the management of deer was launched late last year by myself and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

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.

The role of the Deer Management strategy group is to develop a strategy for sustainable management of the national deer population. It does not include a research mandate and is not conducting research on specific population control methods.

The next phase in the process is the development of a series of recommendations by five sub-committees under the following headings.

• Legislation,
• Venison,
• Collaboration / Groups,
• Training / Education,
• Solutions for land management.