152. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage with reference to the published book entitled 'Seabirds Count' a census of breeding seabirds in Britain and Ireland (2015-2021), which deals with 25 species of seabirds, has the Minister noted that 70+ pages out of 484 pages in the book are given over to the escalating proliferation of high density urban-breeding gull colonies (including in many schools, hospitals etc.) compared to the Seabird 2000 census in which urban gull colonies were hardly mentioned - surely a red flag in itself, if he has also noted the recent stark warnings in respect of Avian Flu (in which gulls are heavily implicated) issued by the Department of Health, the Health Surveillance Protection Centre, the Health and Safety Executive, the Department of Agriculture, and indeed by his own Department/NPWS, and Local Authorities - in particular warnings that people should avoid any contact with seabirds - and their faecal waste - which can "harbour the H5N1 virus for very long periods"; if he shares the Deputy's concerns in such regards, and if he agree with the Deputy that the 'Balbriggan Derogation' (granted by successive Ministers in the period 2017-2023 to address a recognised legally threat to public health and safety - a threshold materially higher than the EU's legal threshold) needs to be reinstated immediately - given the proven very high density gull breeding colonies in Balbriggan - and extended to all urban areas impacted by urban gull colonies, as was recommended by the Consultative Committee (CC) on urban gulls in its 2020 Report to the Minister, and as affirmed by independent legal advice acquired by his Department via the CC in 2020/2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40105/25]

Summary

152. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage with reference to the published book entitled 'Seabirds Count' a census of breeding seabirds in Britain and Ireland (2015-2021), which deals with 25 species of seabirds, has the Minister noted that 70+ pages out of 484 pages in the book are given over to the escalating proliferation of high density urban-breeding gull colonies (including in many schools, hospitals etc.) compared to the Seabird 2000 census in which urban gull colonies were hardly mentioned - surely a red flag in itself, if he has also noted the recent stark warnings in respect of Avian Flu (in which gulls are heavily implicated) issued by the Department of Health, the Health Surveillance Protection Centre, the Health and Safety Executive, the Department of Agriculture, and indeed by his own Department/NPWS, and Local Authorities - in particular warnings that people should avoid any contact with seabirds - and their faecal waste - which can "harbour the H5N1 virus for very long periods"; if he shares the Deputy's concerns in such regards, and if he agree with the Deputy that the 'Balbriggan Derogation' (granted by successive Ministers in the period 2017-2023 to address a recognised legally threat to public health and safety - a threshold materially higher than the EU's legal threshold) needs to be reinstated immediately - given the proven very high density gull breeding colonies in Balbriggan - and extended to all urban areas impacted by urban gull colonies, as was recommended by the Consultative Committee (CC) on urban gulls in its 2020 Report to the Minister, and as affirmed by independent legal advice acquired by his Department via the CC in 2020/2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40105/25]

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