Vol. 475 No. 4
263 Mr. Moynihan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the new plastic identification tag for cattle introduced in 1996 is proving highly unsatisfactory; and the plans, if any, he has to have it replaced with a more reliable permanent tag. [4916/97]
Under the arrangements introduced in 1996, farmers are required to apply tags to calves born on their holdings. There is no evidence available at this stage to show that these arrangements are proving to be unsatisfactory. In this regard, there has been a very low level of requests for replacement tags from herdowners which would suggest a low fall-out rate of tags. At the same time and given the importance of having a secure tagging and registration system for cattle, my Department will continue to monitor the position.
