John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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1306. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to set out the justification and evidence base for listing ‘hunting’ as a pressure or threat for 28 bird species in Ireland’s latest Article 12 report to the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47387/25]

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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1307. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason hunting bag data was not included in Ireland’s latest Article 12 report to the EU; and if Ireland will make a further submission to the EU with available bag count data; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47388/25]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1306 and 1307 together.

The EU’s Birds Directive requires all Member States to submit reports to the Commission on bird population status and trends, the pressures and threats acting upon them, the implementation of national provisions taken under the Directive, and the contribution of the network of Special Protection Areas to the objectives set out in the Directive’s Article 2. The Reporting format provided to Member States by the Commission allows Member States to report on information concerning species listed on Annex II of the Birds Directive, i.e. those species that may be hunted, specifically whether the species is hunted in the Member State, information on the national hunting bag and additional information on key sources of information.

Hunting is listed as a pressure or threat for 28 bird species under Ireland’s 2025 submission of Article 12 reporting for the period 2019-2024. This includes some species that have likely been impacted by hunting in the past only, species that are likely to be impacted in the future only, and species that were impacted by hunting during the current reporting period and are likely to be impacted in the future. These impacts include those that arise from hunting activities occurring within Ireland only, those that occur outside Ireland, elsewhere in the EU or outside the EU. In general, hunting is listed as a pressure or threat for those species that are legally huntable in Ireland, or where legal hunting elsewhere in the EU or outside the EU is likely to impact upon the species (in the past, currently, or in the future). As there is currently no national system in Ireland to collect, compile, analyse and report out on hunting bag statistics for this species, it is not possible to confirm the impact of hunting in Ireland on these species. However, those species that are legally huntable in Ireland likely have an associated direct and indirect mortality from hunting and therefore hunting is considered a pressure and/or threat for each of these species. As such, hunting was listed accordingly. It would be incorrect to draw further inference from these terms as they are set out in the Directive as a reporting obligation.

There is currently no national system in Ireland to collect bag data from those that hunt bird species listed on the Open Order Season for birds. While the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department does not currently have access to the bag data collected on a voluntary basis by some Irish hunting organisations, discussions are ongoing in relation to obtaining access.

The 31 July 2025 deadline for submission of the Article 12 report to the EU has now passed and no further submissions may be made. Should bag data become available to my Department or be collected by it, it will be reviewed with a view to establishing how it may be used to inform ongoing dialogue with the Commission and Member States on the recovery of declining populations of huntable bird species in Ireland the EU, and in future Article 12 reports.

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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1308. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total number of individual sites which were subject to core I-WeBS counts in each of the years 2020-2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47389/25]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS) is Ireland’s national programme for monitoring population trends of wintering waterbirds and the habitats they use. The survey has been running for over 30 years. The I-WeBS count surveys are completed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), by professional staff of the survey service provider (under contract) and by a network of skilled volunteers. The number of I-WeBS sites counted under I-WeBS each winter season may vary due to a range of factors, including weather, flooding, access, and the availability of volunteers and NPWS staff.