Vol. 462 No. 7
109 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his attention has been drawn to the concern of many farmers regarding the likelihood of brown rot infection arising from seed potatoes recently imported from Holland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5340/96]
Importers of seed potatoes and the farmers' organisation have been alerted by my Department to the outbreak of brown rot disease of potatoes in the Netherlands. In order to minimise the risk of introduction of brown rot disease into this country, I introduced legislation last December, laying down measures to be applied for the importation of potatoes which originate in the Netherlands. Under the legislation, mandatory advance notification of proposed imports of potatoes of Netherlands origin must be provided to my Department. Consignments will not be released until test results of samples, taken at the time of import into this country, show that the potatoes are free from the brown rot organism.
Traders have been urged to be extremely cautious in dealing with potatoes which originate in the Netherlands and to avoid such potatoes if possible. Two containers of Dutch seed potatoes were recently landed at Dublin port but were re-exported without leaving the port area. I am not aware of any other Dutch seed potatoes imported since the control measures were introduced.
