Kerry council’s deer road safety pilot slammed as ‘ridiculous’ – ‘Are they computer literate?’

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

A Kerry councillor has blasted the council’s roll-out of state of the art technology in response to a growing threat of deer on the roads.

Councillor Brendan Cronin slammed the pilot of ‘virtual fencing technology’ as “ridiculous”, asking if the council were planning to put collars round every deer in the county.

Deer populations in Killarney National Park have reached an “epidemic” scale and now threaten the whole of the county, warned Councillor Brendan Cronin at a recent Kerry County Council (KCC) meeting.

One solution being trialled by the council is virtual fencing which typically uses GPS-enabled neck collars on livestock to deliver audio cues or mild electric shocks to keep animals within digitally defined boundaries.

Cllr Cronin expressed his confusion at the new technology which, in his own research, he had found used on pet dogs.

“Are you suggesting you put collars round the deer or are they computer literate…because this is ridiculous,” he said.

“There’s going to be fatalities. These lads are multiplying. They’re everywhere and there’s no restriction, there’s no culling.”

The council said the scheme involved testing two 1km sections of road with the technology which had seen successful trials on mainland Europe.

Cllr Cronin also pointed out that Bird Control Ireland were involved in the scheme, questioning their expertise in relation to deer.

“Forgive the phrase but it’s a totally different animal,” he quipped.

While National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) figures show 400 deer were culled in 2025, Cllr Cronin believes the agency has “no clue” as to the total number of Red and Sika deer in the area.

Seven years after the council first heard a deputation about a fatal car accident linked to wild deer, incidents are now happening “continuously” across the county according to Cllr Cronin.

After the deputation, Transport Infrastructure Ireland promised to install deer fencing along a section of the N72 but “not one square inch” of public road has been fenced, claimed Cllr Cronin at the KCC meeting.

The only measure that has been introduced is an electronic road sign of “a deer jumping”, he said.

“This is happening left right and centre…continuously and many of the accidents are never reported because you don’t get comeback,” he said.

“All that’s being told is long fingered promises at area meetings and council meetings but nothing is being done…it’s becoming a Kerry joke now”.

Listowel councillor Michael Leane added that deer had been sighted as far as Abbeydorney, around 40km from Killarney. One of his constituent’s cars had been written off during an accident with a deer and the insurance company refused to cover the damages, he said.

The council accepted the issue of deer on roads was “widespread” but argued that it was not possible to fence every road in the county.

They said the path forward was to explore various technologies to help solve the issue.

At the most recent Killarney MD meeting, elected members were told the new technology consisted of two initiatives both of which were only in development stage.