![\"There](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0e936d02-0d37-4508-bb97-f2068176aa01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There have been a number of reported sightings of foxes around Leinster House. Photo: Getty<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/14ab6998-f21b-4482-9bc1-c21a5a222d16.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The storeroom after the fox had entered it<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4ae6c370-8151-49a7-bd3e-b53ee6e5be57.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The foxes left a trail of damage behind<\/p>\n
A \u201cwild animal\u201d that turned out to be a fox wreaked havoc in a Leinster House storeroom after decapitating a large bird on the lawn last year, internal correspondence has revealed.<\/p>\n
An official at the Houses of the Oireachtas found toilet supplies had been destroyed in the room, and reported that the damage had likely been caused by a \u201cwild animal\u201d that had gained access through an adjacent yard.<\/p>\n
Pest controllers were called to investigate the incident, and established that the animal had probably accessed the storeroom through gaps around a pipe leading from an area known as Fisheries Yard.<\/p>\n
After inspecting the storeroom, the pest controllers concluded that the damage caused was inconsistent with a \u201ccommon rodent infestation\u201d, and believed that the intruder was more likely a fox.<\/p>\n
The break-in on October 8 followed a number of reported incidents involving foxes on Leinster Lawn, which is located on the Merrion Square side of Leinster House.<\/p>\n
On one occasion, a senior official found a decapitated bird on the lawn, as well as what appeared to be some entrails and feathers scattered over a large area. <\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771411870_141_14ab6998-f21b-4482-9bc1-c21a5a222d16.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The storeroom after the fox had entered it<\/p>\n
The official said he had seen a fox in the same location earlier that week, and had been informed of further sightings. He asked if the Office of Public Works (OPW) could do something to \u201cdeter\u201d the animals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There have been a number of reported sightings of foxes around Leinster House. Photo: Getty<\/p>\n
News in 90 Seconds, Wednesday, February 18<\/p>\n
He sought a \u201ccombination of measures\u201d from the state agency for this purpose, but there is no further correspondence indicating what, if any, steps were taken to prevent foxes from frequenting the area.<\/p>\n
The immediate priority is to implement wildlife exclusion measure<\/p>\n
Pest controllers reported that \u201cspecific physical indicators\u201d in the storeroom at Leinster House suggested that the animal was a fox.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the ongoing external fox activity observed near the facility, the immediate priority is to implement wildlife exclusion measures,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
It was not the first time that a fox let itself into Government Buildings. In 2022, it was reported that one of the animals had gained entry and urinated \u201call over an office\u201d in the Department of the Taoiseach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There have been a number of reported sightings of foxes around Leinster House. Photo: Getty The storeroom after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[15049,61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-304120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-dail-eireann","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}