HUGE numbers of dead sea birds are washing up on Clare’s coastline due to avian flu, prompting a call for state assistance to deal with the issue.
“We are seeing huge numbers of dead sea birds around our coast, in particular gannnets, due to the avian flu,” said Councillor Cillian Murphy.
“I’m not a scientist but what I understand from speaking to people who are is that normally the avian flu would die off in the summer when they’re in their colonies, but this particular variation hasn’t, and it has really impacted on seabirds really heavily.”
With many of the birds washing up on beaches, he said that Clare County Council staff members have to deal with them appropriately and need protective clothing.
He put forward a motion requesting the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine “allocate funding to local authorities for the additional resources required to deal with the costs of cleaning up and managing the consequences of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) that is currently circulating”.
“I had a number of calls from people wondering what was happening at the beach in Kilkee, because the guys were out with their moon suits.
“It’s not just as simple as picking them up, putting them in a bag and disposing of them in the usual way. They have to be taken away and disposed of by a specialist company.”
He said that someone who was at Querrin on Sunday said they had been coming across dead birds every 20-30 yards.
Councillor Murphy said that the Council should receive funding to help it to deal with the situation. “As a Council we have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the public and to make sure that this is all disposed of appropriately. Of course there is a cost associated with this.
“Our Municipal District teams are having their staff members doing all this, they’re having to get specialist disposals. My view is this is an avian pandemic for want of a better word, and the Minister should try and cough up a few quid for the local authorities that are at the coal face.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.