Just over 400 Irish Rail services were disrupted or delayed in 2025 due to collisions with animals, the overwhelming majority of which were deer.

There were 102 incidents of trains striking deer last year, according to the national railway operator.

Meanwhile, just five incidents involved cattle and this number has “significantly reduced” in the past number of years due to improvements in fencing across the network, a spokesperson for Irish Rail told the Irish Farmers Journal. While improved fencing has worked for livestock, it is not adequate to keep deer out, particularly in the south west of the country where the majority of incidents are occurring.

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“Numbers are up. In 2024 we had 90 incidents. In 2025 there were 102,” the spokesperson said. “The issue of deer is more challenging for us as they are wild in nature, are rapidly increasing in number and more intrepid in gaining access to the railway.

“We do have dedicated two-metre-high fencing in known areas where there are large numbers of deer and we review instances of incursion to see where we can heighten fences,” a spokesperson said.

Irish Rail is also exploring the use of technology to deter deer from accessing the railway line in certain counties.

Affected routes

Just under a third (26) of incidents in 2025 occurred on the Mallow-to-Killarney route. The Cork mainline route had 22, and 12 occurred between Limerick city and Limerick Junction.

The Galway route was also a hot spot in terms of increased incidents with 11 incidents of trains striking deer.