Thousands of seagulls have left a seaside town in a flap.
The birds are attacking children and old people for food and polluting every corner of Balbriggan with their droppings, we can reveal.
The noise is so bad that people can’t sleep at night in the North Co Dublin town.
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People have been warned not to swim at the town’s beach because it is a health risk and the water has become filthy because of the birds.
The gulls, a protected wild species, have invaded almost every roof space in the town for nesting and breeding and the whole flock is out of control.
Last night furious Sinn Fein TD Louise O’Reilly demanded Wildlife Minister Malcolm Noonan and Housing, Local Government and Heritage Minister Darragh O’Brien do something about it.
She said: “We now have a massive problem with seagulls in Balbriggan and they are literally taking over the town.
“It has become the number one issue among the townspeople and they are sick of the birds. We have reached crisis point.
“I have lobbied both ministers for the past few years to remove the legal protection of seagulls during the breeding season in the interests of public health and safety but they refused and each year the seagull population just got bigger and bigger.
“The Government can not sit back anymore and do nothing.”
Ms O’Reilly said Balbriggan people want wildlife officers to remove the nests to stop them breeding.
They believe a number of steps can be taken to move the flock from Balbriggan which has a population of almost 22,000 people, to the islands off the North Dublin coast where the birds originally came from.
Deputy O’Reilly added: “All the experts say there is a way if certain things are done to get them back to the islands.
“Nobody wants to kill the whole lot so the best way is to interfere with their breeding.”
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