Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Apr 2001

Vol. 534 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Artificial Insemination Service.

I have asked to raise this issue on the Adjournment because things are becoming urgent in livestock breeding and on dairy and suckler farms in particular. I have made a submission to the Minister and have asked him to give it to the expert committee in place in his Department so that consideration can be given to resuming AI services at the earliest possible opportunity. It is something which has so far been advised against if not banned outright by the Minister and his Department for reasons which I fully understand and support. Although I am at one with the Minister in counselling caution in what we do in this area, we need to have a well-informed view on what we can do to permit the resumption of normal activities on farms to the extent that that is possible without running unnecessary risks. I proposed to the Minister that we should allow the resumption of AI services under controlled conditions by registered operators. My submission proposed that operators should have adequate disinfection equipment to be used when arriving at and leaving a farm. I proposed also that each farm visit be logged so that we can keep track of the movements. I proposed that each farmer using the service would be required to keep on farm a stock of single use protective clothing for the use of operators to be donned when the operator arrives and left on the farm when the operator leaves so that it can be disposed of in a proper way with the disposable equipment that the operator has used on visits to farms. In that way any risks involved from the kind of indirect contact between farms that would be in question here would be reduced.

The position has become urgent. We are well into the normal breeding season when farmers are beginning to think of getting their cows in calf and if operations are not resumed at this stage this could have an impact on the level of production for the coming year in the new milk season and in the suckler cow sector. I am encouraged in the proposal I have made by a submission from the AI Managers Association of Ireland. They have proposed a rigid system of controls, one of which is that farmers requesting the service would delay the call until it is absolutely necessary and that they have adequate disinfection procedures in place. They have proposed also that each inseminator would operate only in a defined geographical area to ensure we can keep track of the movements involved. They proposed that in addition to the normal disinfection procedures each inseminator would have with him portable disfection procedures to be used before and after each visit. They have proposed also that visits would not be made to farms where disinfection procedures on the farm of personnel and vehicles are not adequate. They have proposed that on each farm requesting a visit disposable anti-infection clothing would be available and that there would be an increased supply of approved disinfectant.

The fear is, and this has been expressed to me and I am sure to the Minister also by many farmers, that if action is not taken now to resume these services under controlled conditions, these services will be provided and taken under uncontrolled conditions, perhaps by the DIY operators in the sector and by those operating in the black economy. That would be an undesirable development. I am sure the Minister will agree that if these services are to take place it is best that they should take place under agreed strict control conditions.

It has been announced this evening that it is the Minister's intention that these services should resume as from Easter Monday onwards. I do not know whether that is accurate but I hope it is. If we provide for the resumption of these services under properly controlled conditions we can keep the risk to the minimum level with which we can feel comfortable. I have asked that the expert committee carry out a risk assessment in a hard-headed way. I recommend to the Minister, and he may have done so already and in which case I congratulate and support him and ask for details, that this be carried out under strictly controlled conditions. If that is done and if we can take sensible controlled and well-judged measures to allow normal operations to resume, to the extent that that is possible under conditions with which we can feel comfortable, the Minister will find a ready response within the dairy industry generrally and the suckler industry.

I thank Deputy Dukes for raising this matter. He has raised this and a number of other issues which are pertinent, important and economically essential for the agriculture industry. The point he has made is a valid one, it is, that the expert group under Professor Michael Monaghan should do a risk assessment and an economic evaluation on certain activities. If there is minimisation of the risk to little or no risk, matters such as artificial insemination are worth going into in some detail. What is at stake is the dairy industry, the milk industry and the milk quota. If cows and heifers are put in calf now they will calve about the middle of January but if it goes later it will be mid-February before they calve and this would cause a great deal of hardship and negative consequences for the industry.

This week brought good news with the confirmation that the suspect case in Piedmont in County Louth was negative and that the various other tests in Bunclody, Carlow and other parts of the country were negative also. That meant we were able to look more positively at various issues. We have arranged for the AI managers or licensees to meet the Department's veterinary people tomorrow. Professor Michael Monaghan, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in UCD, is evaluating on an on-going basis various control measures and assessing risks. There are still risks because of the overhang of the British problem. There are now 15 cases of disease in the Netherlands. This is not a time nor will it be for the next couple of weeks for becoming complacent.

As regards the AI service we knew from the outset that while it was an important service to farmers it was also in this context one of the highest risk activities because operatives were handling susceptible animals and going on to another farm. Given that it was one of the highest risk areas we talked with the licensees who willingly ceased operations as did many of the other agricultural industry activities. Also voluntary organisations ceased to operate. We also asked the DIY AI personnel to do likewise. I know for certain that licensees have ceased operations, maybe some DIY people have been operating surreptitiously and, if so, they should not.

As with many other necessary measures taken, the AI organisations and their employees and contractors as well as the farmers who would have availed of their services have suffered hardship.

All the AI organisations accepted that the measure was necessary to protect the animal health status of the national herd in exceptional circumstances. However, despite the recent good news on the subject to which I referred, I reiterate that the situation concerning foot and mouth disease remains very serious. The risks and potentially disastrous consequences involved in relaxing restrictions in key areas too soon cannot be over stated. The easing of the restriction on the Al service is under active consideration. I announced earlier today that, subject to agreement on protocols, of which Deputy Dukes has a copy, Al services can resume during the week commencing 16 April. We also envisage training lasting perhaps one day as this is a high risk area. Those involved are responsible and would carry out the protocols in accordance with the conditions set out. Senior officials of my Department are meeting AI field service licensees tomorrow to discuss the protocol and associated issues and to finalise the details involved. On the basis of the outcome of those discussions, and taking into account the advice of the Expert Committee on Foot and Mouth Restrictions, I expect to shortly announce the details requested by the Deputy.

I take this opportunity to thank all those involved in the AI services who have co-operated so wholeheartedly with the requests and requirements of my Department on this issue. I realise and understand the very difficult position the current situation has placed them in. They have been patient and I will not hold up the resumption of the service, under a tightly controlled regime, for any longer than is necessary. I also thank Professor Monaghan and the members of the expert group for their excellent and dedicated work on this important subject. I am satisfied that the net benefit from caution in this case will be long-term gain and the protection of our most valuable national asset.

Top
Share