Deer involved in 1,300 road accidents in seven years, with Kerry topping collision list

Kerry, Cork, Galway, Tipperary, and Wicklow — which have the largest populations of deer in Ireland — recorded the highest number of deer-related accidents

The Oireachtas agriculture committee heard that, of the 1,300 traffic accidents from 2019 to 2025, 41 involved injury to road users. File picture

More than 1,300 traffic accidents in the past seven years have involved wild deer. An Oireachtas committee has heard that the number of insurance claims for deer-related incidents has also increased in recent years.

A number of areas pose a higher risk for motorists across the county, with almost half of all collisions involving deer happening in Kerry, Cork, Wicklow, Tipperary, and Donegal.

Michael Rowland of the Road Safety Authority said: “We’ve analysed collision data for 2019 to 2025 to examine the prevalence of deer-related collisions on Irish roads. Over this seven-year period there were 41 casualty collisions... where there was a serious or minor road user injury, were recorded as having involved deer or the road user was avoiding deer at the time of the collision.

“None of these collisions were fatal.”

He said this represents less than 1% of the casualty collisions that occurred during this time period.

Mr Rowland added that there were 1,382 collisions involving deer during the same period where no one was injured, but where damaged was done to cars or other vehicles.

FBD Insurance chief underwriting officer Sean Kelleher recently told the Oireachtas joint agriculture committee that the company has recorded 466 deer-related claims since 2020, with the “vast majority” relating to vehicle-deer collisions. He said: 

Claim volumes have increased over recent years, peaking at 99 claims in 2024, with 33 claims recorded year to date, 2026. 

He said these claims are not evenly distributed across the country and higher volumes are concentrated in certain counties, including Kerry, Cork, Galway, Tipperary, and Wicklow, which Mr Kelleher said “broadly aligns with areas where their populations and their related pressures appear to be more pronounced”.

Mr Rowland told politicians that there are a number of mitigation measures including fencing that may help reduce collisions.

He also cited the manipulation of deer habitats and density, for example, management of roadside vegetation as a way of reducing incidents.

Mr Rowland added that measures to influence driver behaviour, such as awareness campaigns, dynamic warning signs and reducing driver speed must also be highlighted.

• Elaine Loughlin, Political Editor