Vol. 545 No. 3
10 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the progress which has been achieved with his counterpart in Northern Ireland, Mrs. Bríd Rodgers, in having a common all-Ireland approach in animal health policy; the outcome of the last North-South Ministerial Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30050/01]
The North-South Ministerial Council has as one of its stated objectives the enhancement of co-operation regarding animal health matters on both parts of the island of Ireland. Structures have been established to pursue this aim and activity is already under way concerning a number of issues including the development of complementary identification and traceability systems, arrangements to prevent livestock-related fraud and illegal cross border trade in animals, the development of joint approaches to dealing with various animal diseases and a number of other areas.
A steering group, together with nine sub-committees, have been established at official level and work is ongoing on the above issues. There has been a very high level of co-operation between ourselves and Northern Ireland at all levels on animal health issues and I will continue to focus on developing this relationship at ministerial and official levels in the future.
Following the most recent NSMC on 4 October 2001, a joint communiqué was issued detailing the issues discussed and the conclusions reached. I am arranging to send a copy of the document to the Deputy.
