Press Release
“Culling of Wild Deer population must be considered as lives are now at risk,” Mattie McGrath
13-11-2019
Independent TD Mattie McGrath has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed and the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, to consider the initiation of an immediate cull of the wild deer population in County Tipperary. Deputy McGrath was speaking after he confirmed that a number of his constituents have narrowly avoided significant injury after wild deer entered areas where vehicular traffic is present:
“In 2015 the Department of Agriculture, together with the Department of Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht, recommended a series of actions on deer management and conservation in a number of areas, including addressing the impact of deer.
It is now clear however that those measures simply have not worked, and lives continue to be put at risk because of the lack of effective containment.
That needs to change as a matter of priority.
I know of one lady who recently had her car totally written off and who was lucky to walk away without serious life changing injuries after her vehicle collided with a wild deer.
I have raised this matter several times with Minister Creed, and he has already accepted that the wild deer population of Ireland has dramatically increased and that they are causing devastating damage to farmland, crops and causing a dangerous hazard on rural and national roads particularly in areas of County Tipperary.
At this point we must start looking at an immediate cull of the deer population because all of the other measures by Teagasc, Coillte and the other state agencies are just not working and the situation remains as dangerous as it ever was,” concluded Deputy McGrath.
ENDS