Vol. 536 No. 3
118 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the dis cussions he has had with his counterpart in Northern Ireland to explore the possibility of an all-island approach to food safety and animal health. [14066/01]
Agriculture is one of the areas of co-operation with Northern Ireland identified under the Good Friday Agreement. The issues for discussion include animal health policy. The programme of work on animal health adopted by the North-South Ministerial Council in its agriculture sector format involved the formalisation of liaison arrangements at official level on animal health matters including the establishment of a strategic steering group which will co-ordinate animal health policy on the island and make regular reports on co-operation on animal health matters together with recommendations for policy and/or operational decisions to the NSMC. Policy working groups are also to be established which will initially explore eight areas of animal health which apply to the whole island. These groups will be stood down or new ones formed, as required.
Over the last three months, I have had a number of meetings with Minister Bríd Rodgers, both within the North-South Ministerial Council and outside, and animal health issues were discussed at these meetings. At a special meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council, held on 6 April to discuss the foot and mouth crisis, we agreed that officials of our two Departments would develop a strategy for the control of animal movements on the island of Ireland drawing on work done in both jurisdictions; and, in the light of the experience gained from the current foot and mouth disease outbreaks, consider the means of prevention, containment and eradication of future epizootic disease outbreaks on the island.
The issue of food safety is a matter for the Minister for Health and Children.
