Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Andrew Doyle, TD, and Minister at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaelteacht, Josepha Madigan, TD announced the signing of a contract with the Wicklow Uplands Council for provision of Deer Management Services in the Wicklow Region, on Thursday, 2 August. The signing of the contract follows a successful bid by Wicklow Uplands Council last year.

This jointly funded project will run for three years and is designed to enable rapid local level capacity building and co-operation in relation to long-term management of deer populations in Co Wicklow.

Issues relating to high deer populations frequently arise in the Garden County and are increasingly of concern to a range of land managers and conservationists in the area. Minister Madigan was “pleased to be working with Minister Doyle on this important project for the region”.

Population management

Minister Andrew Doyle, commented that the objective of this project is the “management of locally occurring deer populations within three newly established deer management units located in the Wicklow region".

“The project will put sustainable deer management within the county on a more professional basis and promote knowledge transfer in the county, as well as mainstreaming of the project and sharing of knowledge where required outside Co Wicklow,” concluded the junior minister.

“Wild deer should be managed in a sustainable manner, that is safe, humane, and ethically responsible, and that maximises the benefits of deer management to society”.

The guiding principles set out in the joint report called “Deer Management in Ireland, A Framework for Action” will be followed by the Wicklow Uplands Council during the three-year term of the contract.

This project will build on existing experience in the county and will augment national level development in the area through the Irish Deer Management Forum and knowledge transfer measures.

ICSA back the progress

ICSA rural development chairman Seamus Sherlock has welcomed the signing of a contract with the Wicklow Uplands Council for the provision of Deer Management Services in the Wicklow Region.

Mr Sherlock said, “This is indeed a step in the right direction, however it must be viewed as just that, a step. Primarily, it is an important acknowledgement by both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht that ‘unsustainable deer populations have the potential to impact adversely on agriculture’, but we must go further.”