Vol. 545 No. 3
72 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he has satisfied himself with the initial stages of the national sheep identification system; the difficulties which have arisen during the course of implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30264/01]
I announced in March of this year my intention to introduce a compre hensive system of identification and traceability for the national sheep flock. The first elements of the new system were in place within two months, with flockowners able to order and receive tags from approved suppliers. The national sheep identification system – NSIS – as a whole went "live" on 21 June. For the first time, Ireland has full traceability of all sheep, on an individual animal basis. Every sheep which moves from a holding within the State or which is imported into the State and every sheep carcass processed in any of our processing plants is now fully and individually identified. All sheep remaining on holdings are required to be individually tagged by 15 December next.
I attach great importance to this development which is of significant benefit to the sheep sector, most notably in terms of disease control, marketing and in the implementation of the relevant recommendations of the sheepmeat forum. I believe that many flockowners are already beginning to appreciate the benefits of individual tagging for flock management purposes also.
My Department is monitoring the implementation of NSIS on an ongoing basis and I am pleased to report that the system is working well and that sheep presented in marts and factories are properly tagged and documented. The glut of tag orders which occurred last June was short-lived. Approved tag supply companies are now filling orders in a matter of days. To date, almost 10 million tags have been issued to more than 41,000 flockowners.
I am therefore satisfied with progress to date in introducing NSIS. I look forward to full compliance by flockowners with the requirement that all sheep remaining on holdings are tagged no later than 15 December next. Compliance with all the requirements of NSIS will be subject to monitoring by the Department at farm, mart and meat levels and in relation to the operations of other interested parties.
73 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the estimated number of sheep here; the number of sheep tags which have been issued to date in 2001; his Departments input in monitoring the national sheep identity scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30265/01]
The latest figure available from the Central Statistics Office, June 2001, gives the sheep population in Ireland as 7.498 million, of which 4.016 million are ewes. To date over 41,000 flockowners have purchased 9.8 million sheep tags. Two million of these were short-term tags which can be used only for lambs moving directly from farm to factory.
