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Jaroslav Vogeltanz

Ireland in breach of European convention over badger culling reports

The government has failed to submit any reports over the last ten years and the Council of Europe has now requested them as a “matter of urgency”.

THE COUNCIL OF Europe has requested that the Irish government submit reports on badger culling in the country “as a matter of urgency” after it emerged it has failed to provide this information for the last ten years.

Under the Bern Convention, which Ireland ratified in 1982, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), as part of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, is required to submit reports every two years detailing the number of badgers culled as well as the methods used, and provide information about who carries out the culling.

The compilation of this data is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture, which implements the bovine TB eradication programme and captures the badgers. However the NPWS has failed to pass on any of the reports compiled by the department to the Council of Europe since 2003.

In correspondence between the Irish Wildlife Trust and the Head of the Democratic Initiatives Department at the Council of Europe, Eladio Fernández-Galiano, seen by TheJournal.ie, Fernández-Galiano said he had been informed that Ireland has not submitted biennial reports as is requested by Article 9 of the Convention.

He goes on to say that he will be requesting the reports “as a matter of urgency as it is a clear obligation of parties” under the convention.

No response from the Irish government

When contacted by TheJournal.ie, Fernández-Galiano said requests for reports are addressed to the Biodiversity and Policy unit in the NPWS and that Ireland has been asked to submit biennial reports every two years since it ratified the convention.

He confirmed that a request has been made that these reports be immediately submitted but the council, two months on, has still not received them.

However he also said that the convention has no provisions for penalties for failing to submit these reports so it is unlikely that Ireland will be reprimanded for its failure to provide the information.

Fernández-Galiano said every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them “in good faith”.

Data in the most recent summary of reporting under the Bern Convention show records for several other countries who have been providing information every two years, while Ireland’s data has been left blank.

(If you have trouble viewing this image, click here)

Commenting on the government’s failure to submit these reports, Irish Wildlife Trust research officer, Fintan Kelly, said that he was at first “annoyed at the government but at a European level, they don’t follow up on this stuff.”

“It has much bigger implications for conservation,” he said. “This is just one species in one country and the council don’t seem to care, it’s mind boggling.”

He said that “generally, the council don’t want to bother” when it comes to wildlife conservation and that the feedback the trust has gotten over the years is that “basically the Bern Convention is just a general agreement and they’re never going to come down hard on people over it”.

Following a complaint to the Council of Europe by the IWT last year, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht provided a report on badger numbers in Ireland. However the report focuses on proving that the badger population is at a reasonable level and gives great detail of the numbers of cattle that protracted TB without giving a yearly breakdown of the numbers culled over the last ten years.

In a statement to TheJournal.ie, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht said that in cooperation with the the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, it “is making arrangements to submit the outstanding reports on the badger control programme in the state to the Bern Convention Secretariat”.

Related: Government strategy will lead to more badger killings – Irish Wildlife Trust>
Read: Three in court over badger baiting>

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25 Comments
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    Mute Martin Sinnott
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    Apr 7th 2013, 8:50 AM

    Send them the report in the Irish language !

    62
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    Mute Ian Crowley
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    Apr 7th 2013, 9:40 AM

    Irish is considered an official language in the EU.

    AFAIK, all EU documents eventually get published (printed???) in every language for dissemination to the other member states.

    Not taking the piss but I believe there are a series of robots that deliver documents through out the EU building in Brussels that follow pre-programmed paths. The look like a cross between a shopping trolly and a 1950′s Sci-Fi “Future-Dog”.

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    Mute Keith O'Brien
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    Apr 7th 2013, 11:54 AM

    Wrong Council. Official COE languages are English and French.

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    Mute Damocles
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    Apr 7th 2013, 8:54 AM

    Of course they don’t care about the badgers, badgers aren’t bondholders. ;)

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    Mute skerriesred
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    Apr 7th 2013, 8:58 AM

    I thought that nobody knows who the bond holders are.
    Why couldn’t it be the badgers?

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    Mute Little Jim
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    Apr 7th 2013, 9:02 AM

    I thought that was the wombles of Wimbledon common.

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    Mute Dilcos
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    Apr 7th 2013, 9:30 AM

    Do Bondholders carry TB as well?

    26
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    Mute Damocles
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    Apr 7th 2013, 12:27 PM

    “Why couldn’t it be the badgers?”

    Because then the government would be falling over backwards to help them.

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    Mute JibberIrish
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    Apr 7th 2013, 10:53 AM

    I think the Irish motorways are culling enough badgers.

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    Mute Dermot Fennelly
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    Apr 7th 2013, 8:39 AM

    That’s the least of our worries , I’m sure our friends in Europe have filed very detailed analysis

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    Mute Pádraig O'hEidhin
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    Apr 7th 2013, 8:46 AM

    Next they’ll want detailed analysis on the amount of tiddly-winks played on an annual basis.

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    Mute Figo murphy
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    Apr 7th 2013, 10:03 AM

    It’s not the least of the Badges problems

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    Mute Vinnie Bonar
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    Apr 8th 2013, 12:14 AM

    It’s an island… Why do they care?

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    Mute Maureen Ellen McGill
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    Apr 7th 2013, 9:55 PM

    article is about badger culling though one wouldn’t think so from the comments. Science has proved that killing badgers does not stop Bovine TB from spreading so let’s just give these guys a break and clean up best practice and hygienic farming.

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    Mute cormac
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    Apr 7th 2013, 11:57 AM

    European law my ass. Free trade across the eu? I just paid €3000 in vrt to bring a car in from the UK. We can choose which laws to enforce or not. I am not worried about a badger law. I’ve never seen as many of them in my life.

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    Mute Keith O'Brien
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    Apr 7th 2013, 12:12 PM

    It’s highly worrying that a secondary school teacher can’t distinguish between the EU and COE …. especially when that person claims to be interested in politics.

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    Mute Íde Mhic Gabhann
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    Oct 19th 2013, 9:25 AM

    Especially when the article refers to Bern

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    Mute Tom Kiely
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    Apr 7th 2013, 10:06 AM

    Next ill be telling Europe how many squares if toilet paper I use….but us as nation of sheep..I say no more

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    Mute Clifford Brennan
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    Apr 7th 2013, 11:19 AM

    Im sure we recently learned that EU wide agreements dont necessarily mean anything.

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    Mute John Burke
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    Apr 7th 2013, 1:06 PM

    I met a badger last night in the local, not bad looking either

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    Mute OU812
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    Apr 7th 2013, 9:25 AM
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    Mute Dermot Fennelly
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    Apr 7th 2013, 9:30 AM

    Let’s send them that

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    Mute Ian Crowley
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    Apr 7th 2013, 9:42 AM

    Thats fantastic. Nothing will ever be the same again….EVER!

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    Mute RP McMurphy
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    Apr 7th 2013, 12:00 PM

    ‘Russian dancing men’ also catchy!

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    Mute John Anthony Duignan
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    May 22nd 2013, 8:10 PM

    There is huge debate about this, the farming lobby think that these creatures spread TB to cows, many of us think that this a simplistic take on things. The debate is really that of industrial scale farming that has encroached up and indeed nearly wiped out the majority of Irish wildlife in the name maximizing profit per square meter of land, the hell with the cost to the natural environment and the diversity of wildlife that lives in tune with it. We on the environmental side of the debate feel that this kind wonton destruction has no justification whatsoever. Unfortunately the farm lobby is powerful in both finance and in terms of governmental representation and it is a bit of a battle.

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