Ireland is in the process of updating its oil spill response plans led by the Irish Coast Guard. Each of the 20 coastal counties is charged with the task to develop a local authority oil/HNS contingency plan, according to a predefined structure. This structure requires a section called "Procedure for dealing with contaminated birds".

During a workshop in 2005, a number of coastal counties expressed their interest to discuss oiled wildlife response planning with some key NGO's and encouraged them to propose a national strategy on a multi stakeholder approach for dealing with an oiled wildlife emergency. Since then, several meetings have been held to explore stakeholder cooperation and an appropriate strategy for Ireland. This process has now come to a final stage and further progress will depend on a more structural involvement of the coastal counties in the development of a plan.