Wildlife Act , 1976

PART I Preliminary and General

1. Short title, commencement and collective citation.

1.—(1)This Act may be cited as the Wildlife Act, 1976.

(2)This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by order or orders of the Minister, either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be fixed for different purposes and different provisions of this Act.

(3)The Forestry Acts, 1946 and 1956, and sections 55 and 63 of this Act may be cited together as the Forestry Acts, 1946 to 1976.

2. Definitions.

2.—(1)In this Act—

“the Act of 1919” means the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919;

“the Act of 1946” means the Forestry Act, 1946;

“the Act of 1956” means the Forestry Act, 1956;

“agriculture” includes horticulture;

“airgun” means any weapon, including an air-rifle or air-pistol, incorporating a barrel from which metal or other slugs can be discharged;

“authorised person” means a person who is appointed under section 72 of this Act by the Minister to be an authorised person for the purposes of this Act;

“the Board”, except in section 14 and the Second Schedule hereto, means An Bord Pleanála;

“building operation” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Factories Act, 1955;

F1[“the CITES Convention”means the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora done at Washington on the 3rd day of March, 1973, as subsequently duly amended;

F2["CITES Regulations" means Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 of 9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein^2and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 865/2006 of 4 May 2006 laying down detailed rules concerning the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein, together with any amendments to or replacements of those Regulations;]]

“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland;

F3[“communities”means any naturally occurring group of organisms that occupy a common environment;]

F4[“conservation”includes measures to maintain or enhance or restore the quality, value or diversity of species, habitats, communities, geological features or geomorphological features;]

“the Council” means the body established by section 13 of this Act;

“designation order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 17 of this Act;

“establishment order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 15 of this Act;

“exempted wild mammal” has the meaning assigned to it by section 25 of this Act;

F5[“export”, where the context so admits, includes re-export and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;]

“falconry” means hunting by means of birds of the F6[ordersAccipitriformes, FalconiformesandStrigiformes] which are trained to hawk for sport;

F7[“fauna”means all wild birds and all wild animals (both aquatic and terrestrial) and includes wild mammals, reptiles, amphibians and aquatic and non-aquatic invertebrate animals, and all such wild animals' eggs, larvae, pupae or other immature stage and young;]

“firearm” means any lethal firearm or other lethal weapon of any description (including an airgun) from which any shot, bullet, slug or other missile can be discharged;

“flora” means all plants (both aquatic and terrestrial) which occur in the wild (whether within or outside the State) and are not trees, shrubs or other plants being grown in the course of agriculture F8[, aquaculture, forestry] or horticulture and includes in particular lichens, mosses, liverworts, fungi, algae and vascular plants, namely flowering plants, F8[conifers,] ferns and fern-allied plants and any community of such plants;

“foreshore” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Foreshore Act, 1933;

F9[“fossil”includes the remains or imprints, in whole or in part, of animals, plants or any other organisms of uncertain affinity, or of their activities, which are preserved in rocks or deposits at the surface, or beneath the surface, of land;]

“functions” includes powers and duties;

F10[“geology”includes—

(a) the study of the Earth (as a whole or in part), the materials of which it is made, the processes that act and have acted upon those materials and the products and structures formed by such action, and

(b) the physical and biological history of the Earth since its origin including the history of rock sequences as well as the history of life preserved as fossils in rocks and deposits at the surface, or in layers beneath the surface, of land;

“geomorphology”includes the configuration of the Earth's surface and its particular landforms generated by natural processes, such as cliffs, eskers, drumlins, caves, turloughs or other features of the landscape formed by natural processes;

“habitat”includes—

(a) the abode or natural home and the locality thereto of—

(i) a particular species or population of a particular species, at any stage of life, or

(ii) a community of organisms.

(b) a distinctive type of terrain, site or location, distinguished by physical, geographical, vegetational or other features;

(c) a specific locality where a particular fossil, mineral, geological or geomorphological feature is to be found;]

“hares order” means an order made by the Minister under section 25 of this Act and in which any species of hare is specified;

“hunt” means stalk, pursue, chase, drive, flush, capture, course, attract, follow, search for, lie in wait for, take, trap or shoot by any means whether with or without dogs, and, except in sections 28 and 29, includes killing in the course of hunting, F11[…] and kindred words shall be construed accordingly;

F12[“import”, where the context so admits, includes reimport and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;]

“inland waters” means any waters comprised in the internal or inland waters of the State;

“interest” includes any estate, term, easement or profit à prendre;

“land”, where the context admits, includes land covered by water and in relation to the acquisition of land also includes any easement, profit à prendre or other right in, to or over land or water (including any easement, profit à prendre or other right granted to or held by the Minister);

“the Lay Commissioners” means the Commissioners of the Irish Land Commission other than the Judicial Commissioner;

“licensed wildlife dealer” means a person who for the time being is the holder of a wildlife dealer’s licence;

“local authority” means a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941;

F13[“mechanically-propelled vehicle”has the same meaning as it has in theRoad Traffic Act, 1961;

“mineral”includes any naturally occurring organic or inorganic element or chemical compound of set composition, internal structure and physical properties and occurring generally, but not always, in crystal form;]

“the Minister” means the Minister for Lands;

F14[“natural heritage”area means an area which is worthy of conservation for one or more species, communities, habitats, landforms or geological or geomorphological features, or for its diversity of natural attributes;

“natural heritage area order”means an order made undersection 18of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000;

“nature reserve”means an area managed primarily for conservation of one or more species, communities, habitats or for any feature of geological, geomorphological or other natural interest which is provided for by the Minister in accordance with theWildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000;]

F15[“ornithology”means any study of wild birds for the purposes of research or teaching which leads to a better understanding of the biology, ecology and conservation requirements of wild birds;]

F16[“orphaned”, in relation to any wild bird or any wild animal, includes a dependant young wild bird or dependant young wild animal which has been abandoned and which, in the circumstances, would be unlikely to survive unaided in the wild;]

“owner” in relation to land means—

(a)where the land is vested under the Land Purchase Acts in the Irish Land Commission, but not in the tenant-purchaser or purchaser thereof, the person who is for the time being the tenant-purchaser or the purchaser, as the case may be, of such land, and

(b)in any other case, the owner of the lowest estate in the land constituting an estate saleable under the Land Purchase Acts;

“planning authority” means a planning authority for the purposes of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts, 1963 and 1976;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“protected wild animal” has the meaning assigned to it by section 23 (4) of this Act;

“protected wild bird” has the meaning assigned to it by section 22 (3) of this Act;

“recognition order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 16 of this Act;

“regulated coursing match” means a coursing match held in accordance with the rules for such matches which are for the time being both published and approved by the Irish Coursing Club pursuant to the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958;

F17[“species”means any species, except man, and includes subspecies and varieties, hybrids and populations thereof;]

“sporting rights” does not include fishing rights;

F18["territorial sea of the State" has the same meaning as it has in the Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2021;]

F19[“wild animal”includes an individual of a population which primarily lives independent of human husbandry but does not include—

(a) wild birds, or

(b) species of fish or aquatic invertebrate animals (or their eggs or spawn or other immature stage or brood or young) which are of a species specified in regulations made by the Minister with the prior consent of the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources undersection 32of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000;]

“wild bird” includes the F20[eggs and] unflown young of a wild bird;

“wildlife dealer” means any person who carries on the business of wildlife dealing;

“wildlife dealer’s licence” has the meaning assigned to it by section 48 of this Act;

“wild duck” means wild duck of any species;

“wild mammal” includes both aquatic and terrestrial wild mammals and their young;

“wildlife” means fauna and flora;

“work of engineering construction” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Factories Act, 1955.

(2)Any reference in this Act to sale includes a reference to disposing by way of barter, offering for sale and inviting an offer to buy and words in this Act which are kindred to sale shall be construed accordingly, and except in section 47 and section 55 any reference in this Act to purchase includes a reference to acquiring by way of barter, offering to purchase and inviting an offer to sell.

F21[(3)For the purposes of this Act the business of wildlife dealing means the business of buying for resale any wild birds or wild animals whether alive or dead, or any part, product or derivative of such birds or animals and includes engaging in taxidermy in respect of such birds or animals.]

(4)Nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting or restricting the doing by any person, whether as an employee or otherwise, of any act, other than the killing of fauna, which is done by that person in assisting another person lawfully to hunt fauna.

3. Service of notices, etc.

3.—(1)Where a notice, copy of an order, or copy of regulations is required by this Act, other than section 48, 60 or 61, or any regulation made under this Act to be served on, given or sent to a person, unless the context otherwise requires, it shall be addressed to him and shall be served on, given or sent to him in some one of the following ways:

(a)where it is addressed to him by name, by delivering it to him;

(b)by leaving it at the address at which he ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

(c)by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to him at the address at which he ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

(d)where the address at which he ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and the notice or copy is so required or authorised to be served or given in respect of any land or premises, by delivering the notice or copy to some person over sixteen years of age resident or employed on such land or premises or by affixing it in a conspicuous position on or near such land or premises.

(2)Where a notice, copy of an order, or copy of regulations is required by this Act, other than section 48, 60 or 61, or any regulation made under this Act to be served on, given or sent to an occupier and the name of the occupier cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, it may be addressed to “the occupier” without naming him.

(3)For the purposes of this section, a company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1963, shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

4. Expenses.

4.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

5. Application of moneys received by Minister.

5.—All moneys received by the Minister under this Act shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct.

6. Gifts.

6.—The Minister may accept any gift made to him for all or any of the purposes of this Act, and, subject to the terms thereof, may apply it for those purposes.

7. Reports.

7.—F22[…]

8. Regulations and orders.

8.—(1)The Minister may make regulations for prescribing any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed, provided that in so far as any such regulations provide for the charging of fees they shall only be made with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

F23[(1A)The Minister may make such regulations as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient to implement the provisions of theWildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000.

(1B)Any regulation made by the Minister under this Act may contain such incidental or consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of implementing the provisions of theWildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000.]

(2)Subject to subsection (3) of this section and to sections 14 (5), 15 (5), 15 (6), 16 (4), 17 (3) and 17 (13) of this Act, the Minister may by order revoke or amend an order (other than a purchase order within the meaning of section 55 of this Act) made by him under this Act (including an order made under this subsection).

(3)Where this Act requires the Minister, before making an order or regulation under this Act, to consult any other Minister of State, the Commissioners, a planning authority or any other body, the order or regulation shall be revoked or amended by the Minister only after like consultation.

(4)Every regulation and every order made under this Act by the Minister, other than an order under section 1 (2) or a purchase order within the meaning of section 55 of this Act, shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation or order is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation or order is laid before it, the regulation or order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

9. Licences.

F24[9.—(1) The Minister may—

(a) attach conditions to any licence granted or permit issued for any of the purposes of theWildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000,

(b) vary such conditions, and

(c) revoke any such licence other than a licence granted by the Minister undersection 29of the Principal Act or withdraw any such permit.

(2) Subject tosection 32(5)of this Act, a licence granted or a permit issued by the Minister under theWildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000, shall, if so expressed, operate to authorise the doing by any person who is of a class or description specified in the licence or permit of—

(a) anything allowed to be done by the licence or permit, or

(b) anything which is a thing so allowed to be done and is of a class or description so specified.

(3) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, prescribe fees payable in respect of licences granted or permits issued by the Minister under theWildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000, and different fees may be prescribed for different classes of licences or permits.

(4) Regulations prescribing matters to which this section relates may provide for such incidental or related matters as are, in the opinion of the Minister, necessary to give effect to such fees.]

F25[(5) Nothing shall be allowed to be done by licence or permit that would not be allowed to be done under the provisions of the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 or that would otherwise contravene the requirements and obligations of the Birds Directive or the Habitats Directive.]

10. Repeals.

10.—The enactments mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

PART II Wildlife Conservation and Protection

Chapter I

11. Functions of Minister in relation to wildlife.

11.—(1)It shall be a function of the Minister to secure the conservation of wildlife F26[and to promote the conservation of biological diversity].

(2)Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, the Minister may in particular do all or any of the following:

(a)give assistance or advice to any person on any matter affecting wildlife,

(b)where the Minister considers that the management, or supervision of the management by him or on his behalf, of any land in which he has not an interest, is desirable in the interests of wildlife, he may manage or cause to be managed, or supervise or cause to be supervised the management of the land upon such terms and subject to such conditions as may be agreed upon between him and a person having an interest in the land,

F27[(bb) encourage the management of features of the landscape which are of major importance for wild flora and fauna including birds, which include those features which by virtue of—

(i) their linear and continuous structure, such as rivers or canals with their banks or the traditional systems of marking field boundaries, or

(ii) their function as stepping stones, such as ponds or small woods,