Public consultation on Wild Birds Declarations 2023-2024

The current Wild Bird Declarations, signed by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, allowing for the control of certain protected wild bird species, are due to expire on 30 April 2023. Prior to the signing of any new iteration of the Wild Birds Declarations, the department is seeking any views on the existing Declarations and any proposals for the next iteration from 1 May 2023.

The Declarations allow for the control of certain protected wild bird species where:

• these species are causing serious damage to crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry, flora and fauna, or
• they represent a threat to public health and safety, throughout the State

There are two separate declarations:

• one general State-wide declaration
• one to allow the control of protected wild bird species by airport authorities or their agents throughout the State where these species represent a threat to air-safety

We are inviting any interested individuals, groups or organisations to share their views on the Declarations by completing this online survey.

The survey is hosted on EUSurvey, a survey platform that is supported by the European Commission. Please use Chrome/Edge/Safari/Firefox browsers to complete the online survey. You will have an opportunity to expand on any issues of particular concern to you in the last question box.

The closing date for completed surveys is 5pm on Friday 24 February 2023.

The information provided by respondents will inform any new Declarations for 2023-2024. Please note that submissions received may be made available (without personal information) on the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) website and may be shared. In any event, all submissions received will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection legislation.

Respondents are advised that the survey responses are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2014, and the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007- 2014, and Data Protection legislation. Personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in your submission and it will be presumed that all information contained in your submission is releasable under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

Please note that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage may publish a summary of the survey results and may also publish anonymised data from the responses received.

A privacy statement relating to any personal data that may be provided is available for download under the Documents heading above.