A GOVERNMENT Department was accused yesterday of "playing geese and ganders" with Irish wild fowlers over the right to shoot geese.
Last week, the Minister for the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, made an order allowing feral Canada and greylag geese to be shot during September.
But he made no order allowing Irish hunters to shoot Greenland white fronted geese, a species which hunters wish to get back on the hunting list after an absence of nearly 20 years.
A former chairman of the National Association of Regional Game Councils, the umbrella body for the gun clubs, Dr Douglas Butler, yesterday criticised the decision.
"They are playing ducks and drakes, or should I say geese and ganders, with wildfowlers by allowing a short season on feral Canada and greylag geese and ignoring the real issue, that we want Greenland whitefronted back on the hunting list.
"The people who make these decisions clearly know very little about what is going on and the sooner we have regional game boards, like the fisheries boards, the better," he said.
The Minister said he had made his decision on the new hunting season because feral geese (which have been released or escaped into the wild) have become established here in recent years.
Expert opinion, he said, is that they should not be allowed expand numbers to a point where they would become a significant problem, as has happened in other countries.
"Shooting feral geese in September will minimise disturbance to migratory wildfowl. There are concerns that the opening of a season may lead to individuals attempting deliberate propagation of these species. If this should occur, the provision of a hunting season will be reconsidered and alternative control measures considered," said the Minister's statement.
Mr John Coveney, of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy, said the best information available seemed to indicate that there are 538 feral Canada geese in the country and around 1,000 feral greylag geese, mainly in Northern Ireland.
He said the IWC had no difficulty with the season announced by Mr Higgins, but it would be concerned that it might spark off an attempt by some to rear these geese and release them into the wild.
"That will be self defeating because these feral birds are causing problems for farmers and the idea is to control their numbers," he said.
A spokesman for the NARGC said it was pleased the season had been announced and it expected a season for Greenland whitefronted geese next year when the Government is to ratify the African/Eurasian Migratory Wildfowl Agreement.