To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, following the recent announcement that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has commissioned Natural England to assess the vulnerability of seabird species in light of the pressures they are facing and to propose actions to address them, whether he will consider commissioning similar research on the seabird population of Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland hosts internationally significant breeding seabird populations, which are subject to rolling annual monitoring. Comprehensive UK and Ireland seabird censuses take place roughly every 15 years to provide robust metapopulation data. The fourth national UK seabird census took place between 2015 and 2021 and data are currently being analysed prior to publication.

DAERA has been developing a Northern Ireland Seabird Conservation Strategy to support resilience and recovery in local seabird populations and help protect the marine ecosystem on which they depend. The Strategy is intended to go out to consultation in 2023 and will drive further research needs.