INDEPENDENT TD FOR Kerry Danny Healy-Rae has asked the Taoiseach if he’ll call the army out as locals face “turmoil and tears with deer on the roads”.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Healy-Rae said that urgent action is needed to make roads safer around Kerry, as “the deer are taking over”.

He said: “The deer are entering towns and villages, and estates around Killarney, and they have taken the place over. Cars are having accidents and people have died. People’s cars have been broken and young fellows are crying after paying dearly for insurance and getting their driver’s licence.

If someone shoots a deer, the national parks, the rangers and the guards all come down on top of them. Yet when the deer damage a car and people are injured or die as a result of these accidents, which has happened, no one does anything about it.

He closed his speaking time by asking if the Taoiseach will send the army in, or if he’d do something to make the Kerry roads safer.

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In response to his question, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan told Healy-Rae that anyone can apply to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for a licence.

“There is also a deer management programme in place for Killarney National Park. I believe a cull is under way there at present,” Madigan said. “If the Deputy has any specific instances which he would like to bring to our attention, I ask him to please do so.”

This response didn’t appease the Kerry TD, who replied: “It is only tokenism. It is not working.”