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THE GOVERNMENT HAS announced changes to Ireland’s deer management strategy, which will include reviewing Open Season windows in a bid to curb the animal’s population.
It will involve targetting deer in five “hotspot” counties by establishing local management units and researching the potential of an independent deer management agency.
However, they concerns have been met by concern by the Irish Deer Commission, a group comprising of hunters and conservationists, which said it fears attempts have been underway to reduce the species to the “level of vermin”.
The Commission, one of the stakeholders involved in the strategy’s formation talks alongside farmer and landowner groups, said it fears changes to shooting season windows will lead to animal welfare issues.
Today’s announcement has been welcomed by farming representatives, with the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICSMA) describing it as a “long overdue” commitment to a deer cull and a “more proactive” approach to managing the deer population.
ICSMA president Pat McCormack said that for at least a decade farmers had been expressing mounting concerns about both the surge in deer numbers and their geographic expansion out of traditional areas of habitat.
McCormack said that the expanding deer population has played a role in spreading bovine TB, in addition to issues around road safety.
A statement from the group urged Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue to move ahead with his decision and “begin the cull” in January 2024.
In its statement responding to the announcement, Irish Deer Commission spokesperson Damien Hannigan said that the singling out of five counties as hotspots with an expanding deer population – Wicklow, Galway, Waterford, Cork and Tipperary – was “premature” as no official headcount has been carried out to date.
“Currently a record number of wild deer are being culled in Ireland with over 60,000 deer culled annually,” he said, adding that the figure does not include those killed on roads, nor the “significant issue of the illegal killing of wild deer”, known as deer poaching.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said the “growing deer population is a considerable problem” and he intends on actioning the recommendations “immediately” in the new year.
Minister for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan added that the “overabundance” of any species can be highly damaging to biodiversity.
“In the case of wild deer, the most significant and obvious impact is on native woodlands. Deer browsing can prevent the natural regeneration of these habitats and inhibit their expansion, which is a particularly serious issue in ancient and long-established woodlands and can also devastate newly-planted woodlands,” he said.
“I’m pleased to welcome this report and the pathway it sets out towards the sustainable management of wild deer populations in Ireland, which will also bring benefits for farmland, forestry and road safety, as well as nature. I would like to thank [strategy chairman] Teddy Cashman and the other members of the group for the work carried out to date and also the significant input and engagement by all stakeholders.”
The current open culling season for female deer in Ireland – except for red deer in Co Kerry where red deer are legally protected – is 1 November to 28 February.
An alignment with Northern Ireland’s season, where the female deer are culled from 1 November to 31 March, has been proposed as a short term measure covering the first nine months of the strategy, with a review set to take place following this.
The alignment is considered “more humane” by the Irish Deer Commission but Hannigan said fears remain over the impact further extensions may have.
He explained that changes to the open hunting seasons will be “unpopular with many hunters”, as culling females in March will mean deer are heavily pregnant, while any potential extension to the hunting season for male deer will cause animal welfare issues in upland areas as male deer are in “poor condition following the breeding season and during bleak winter months when venison quality is poor”.
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Good to see shops lowering their prices. They make too much of a profit anyway and usually sell items at a massive markup.
@Sam Lean: that’s to pay for rent, staff, utility bills, insurance, the list goes on. Plus if you were to invest your money in opening a shop wouldn’t you want a decent return on your investment and risk. Whatever people are willing to pay that’s what you sell for. How else would you see a scarf in brown Thomas for several hundred euro or a t-shirt for a fiver in penny’s.
@Sam Lean: So why don’t the same rules apply to the likes of petrol stations an power suppliers
Wetherspoons near me – have made the other pubs nearby reduce their prices!
More recently with a lower value sterling,prices should be coming down even more but i wouldn’t be holding my breath.If you still compare pricing in Tesco or other british owned stores,there is a huge disparity on prices especially when currencies are factored in.
So when competing companies sell at a lower price the market reacts and reduces its prices. I think I learned that concept in Bus Org in 1st year at school.
Ya gotta love competition!!
Grafton St and Henry St!! No other shopping areas outside the Pale?
No.
It boggles my mind to see so many people buy the s€€€ that penny’s sell.
Im not a label person but penny’s products are completely substandard.
Sweat shop slavery, made for kids by kids and they pass the slavings on to the customers.
@Trevor Hayden: You’re 100% right. It’s not like people typically shop in Penny’s out of pure neccessity. It’s because people are greedy and want, want, want without a second thought about where their products come from or their ramifications. It’s grotesque. The same people claim people who shop more conscientiously have “notions”. God forbid your ethical clothing costs more than a basic lunch.
@Trevor Hayden: all clothes retailers have sweatshops, people who make clothing for more expensive shops don’t get paid any better
@Rui Firmino: I’m usually 100% in agreement with you except I know for a fact my Lanvin sweaters were made in Italy by workers receiving a fair wage in good condition. Sure, they cost me 4-500€ but the last me years, never change shape, colour or fit and it’s production respected people.
@Titus Groan: Not talking about jigh end clothes, the likes of H&M, Zara, Topman and others pay their workers as bad as Penneys
@Rui Firmino: Yeah, completely true.
It’s called competition but the Grafton days are numbered. The footfall is in decline and the shops are just charging to high prices to pay for the high rents.
20.5% increase in rents predicted for Grafton Street but a 1.5% drop in footfall? Either Savilles are trying to hype up the market (quelle surprise) or some property speculators are just stupid.
So if shops are lowering their prices… does this mean the poor workers making this stuff to satisfy the ridiculous amount of fast fashion consumption who already getting a crap wage are going to be even worse off? Great. I hope this makes everyone feel good.
2 washes and they shrink – built in obsolesce
have your say