Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The responsibility for authorising a cull on wild deer for the purposes of mitigating risks to motorists, or any other reason, resides with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

I am though acutely 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 I and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage 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.

The group is currently compiling its final report and it is anticipated to be completed in the coming weeks.