Four white-tailed sea eagles to be released in Killarney National Park in final year of programme

A total of 245 chicks have been re-introduced by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Norwegian partners since 2007

There is evidence now of white-tailed eagles breeding in counties from the south of the island in Cork right up to Donegal. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Almost 250 white-tailed sea eagles have taken to the skies over the country as the final year of a re-introduction programme - which began almost two decades ago - nears completion.

This year alone the re-introduction programme by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Norwegian partners will see 26 chicks released to the wild - with four of those chicks being released from Killarney National Park this weekend. 

The park is where the first sea eagles were brought from Norway in 2007 in what was the first phase of the programme to bring back the large bird of prey, shot out and poisoned in the 19th century. A total of 245 chicks have been re-introduced from Norway since 2007.

Killarney National Park provides the perfect nesting habitat, with its old, tall oak and pine trees, quiet surroundings “and an ample supply of fish available in the lakes for their survival,” said Eamonn Meskell, Divisional Manager NPWS, Killarney National Park.

Minister of State Christopher O’Sullivan paid tribute to the collaboration between farmers and the NPWS and landowners as well as the Norwegian partners.

“This programme has seen this mighty bird soar again in Irish skies and its success is a tribute to the NPWS and their colleagues in the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research,” he said.

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There is evidence now of white-tailed eagles breeding in counties from the south of the island in Cork right up to Donegal.

However, Killarney was “a special place for the white-tailed eagle,” he said. “So, whilst we are sad to see the programme come to a close this year, it leaves a lasting legacy in the skies.” 

All of the chicks are fitted with satellite tags so that their movements can be tracked as they disperse and establish in new areas. 

The chicks are vulnerable to external factors such as adverse weather conditions, avian influenza, disease, and illegal poisonings - with three poisonings this year, two of which occurred in Kerry, and investigations continuing.