The Department of Agriculture has rejected claims that a proposed badger "cull" has been postponed because of complaints to an international body for the protection of wildlife.
A spokesman for the Department said a programme was scheduled for September 1st but it was unlikely it would begin then because of the need to recruit sufficient personnel. He said it would start soon.
Ms Bernie Barrett, national co-ordinator of Badger-Watch Ireland, said a complaint had been made by the organisation along with the Irish Wildlife Trust and the Green Party MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, to the standing committee of the Berne Convention. Ms Barrett said it was Europe's largest wildlife and habitat protection convention.
The committee does not have the power to make orders, but she said it requested the Government to report back on three areas in relation to the cull.
The issues raised were that the cull would cause "local disappearance" of a protected species; the snaring of badgers and the methods used; and that there is no closed season in Ireland for snaring badgers.
The badger population is estimated at 200,000. The latest year for which figures are available, 1998, show the Department killed about 2,500 badgers.
The Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands issues licences to the Department of Agriculture for the killing of badgers. Two types are granted. In individual cases if there is an outbreak of bovine TB a limited licence is granted. A second licence is for research. This is reviewed every year. It is aimed at developing a TB vaccine for badgers, so that they would not have to be killed in order to eliminate bovine TB.
A spokesman said he was not aware of any complaint to the standing committee, but under the conditions of the licence the badger population cannot be reduced to less than 20 per cent.
