I recently signed the State Wide Declaration for the period up to 30 April 2021 which allows the killing and capturing of certain wild bird species where they are causing damage to crops, livestock and fauna or represent a threat to public health or safety. The Declaration is published on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department at https://www.npws.ie/legislation/irish-law/eu-birds-directive-derogations.
The Declaration includes methods to control seagull species in a specific area in North Dublin for public safety reasons. The control method involves the removal of eggs and nests only and the culling of seagulls was not permitted. Similar provisions were included in previous Declarations effective from 1 May 2017.
The current Declaration was subject to a consultation process with stakeholders and my Department received a number of submissions from hunting and conservation bodies, a local community organisation as well as officials from the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department.
I have already taken other measures in order to address the impact of seagull species in urban areas. ANIAR Ecology were appointed by my Department to undertake a comprehensive review of the derogation process under Article 9 of the EU Birds Directive and published their report in October 2018. In line with the recommendations in the consultant’s report I agreed to the formation of a Consultative Committee to undertake a review of the issues surrounding the impact of gulls in urban areas, with an independent chair, whose membership includes representatives of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department, Fingal County Council, a local Community Committee and BirdWatch Ireland. The Committee was formed in June 2019 and has met on four occasions and has recently published its first interim report.