A claim has been made that licences to shoot the highly protected red deer in Killarney National Park and its vicinity are being sold for substantial sums. A detailed report on at least one alleged instance where a red deer stag was shot by a hunter tourist who had paid thousands of euro to a commercial company for the experience has been made to the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The stag was shot out of season under a permit issued to a landowner under strict conditions which allegedly had been obtained by a commercial company. That is a serious matter, if it is true. If any culling is to be done, it should only be of the non-indigenous sika species, not red deer. Only aged or infirm red deer should be culled. That species was down to 60 in number in 1970, but now there are more than 600 in the herd.

My information is that the Department does not issue so-called section 42 licences to non-Department wildlife personnel other than landowners who are suffering crop damage on their own lands. Only ten are in existence under very strict conditions. We all know that deer can be dangerous and can wander onto roads and so on. On the western side of Killarney, with which I am very familiar, it is largely sika deer which have been hit a few times by cars and could cause an accident. There are signs everywhere warning motorists.

They cannot hear.

It is a very serious issue. The Senator should not make light of a matter of huge ecological importance.

Dear, dear.

I am calling on the Leader to have the Minister attend the House to have a debate on this matter and deer in general. The matter should be investigated and I presume it is being investigated. Perhaps we might have more information shortly and can take up the matter with the Minister.

Will a deer be shot on Christmas Day in Killarney?

I do not know from where those statements are coming.

I support the senior Senator for County Kerry, Senator Paul Coghlan, on this issue because I am also very concerned about reports which seem to suggest the hunting of the Killarney red deer has now become a purchasable pleasure. The Killarney red deer is a subset of the red deer and, as the Senator said, an internationally protected species. It appears one can now obtain a licence to shoot them for the sum of €5,000. I do not know how exactly this developed. It seems that the only people who are entitled to shoot deer are forestry and wildlife staff for appropriate reasons. This is a new departure. It is an offence to hunt, stalk and shoot these deer. It is reprehensible that wealthy Americans - in this case - can come over and shoot them to stuff them or, even worse, cut their heads off and mount them on the walls of their dens, drawing rooms or clubhouses. The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys, should come to the House and speak to us about this issue, tell us how this occurred and reassure us about what she will do to make sure it does not happen again. She should assure us that if people are breaking the law, no matter how wealthy they are, they will be subject to the rigours of the law.

I have not had a chance to digest the statement that issued from the Cabinet this morning on pay-per-weight bin charges, but I am somewhat concerned about what I have picked up on. I want the Leader to know that in County Kerry we have been operating a pay-by-weight system for refuse collection for quite some time. It is very successful. My gut instinct is that the Government is stepping back because of the debacle over water charges, out of which no party has come with any kudos. All the main political parties have succeeded in making a bunch of extreme Trotskyites look good. People who think it is good politics to lock two defenceless women into a car for four hours are looking good now because of the way we have handled water charges. I presume the Minister is afraid the bin charges will go the same way. I say this as a taxpayer on behalf of middle Ireland and the coping classes. I do not mind those who cannot pay, but we will be paying for those who will not pay. Will we now be paying the bin charges and the refuge charges again for those who will not pay? Undergraduate politicians with megaphones are going around shouting down people and it is very worrying.