Vol. 542 No. 5
250 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he has satisfied himself regarding Ireland's animal health status; if this is on par with other countries with which Irish produce competes on international markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25301/01]
Ireland has always enjoyed a high animal health status and various arrangements are in place to control and eradicate animal diseases that exist here. With the confirmation of a single case of foot and mouth dis ease in Proleek in County Louth on 22 March, however, Ireland lost its FMD free status and a number of restrictions were imposed in relation to the export of Irish livestock and of certain
animal-based products.
As a result of the immediate action taken by my Department and in particular the strategic slaughter of susceptible animals in the region surrounding the infected premises, the EU Commission lifted its restrictions on Ireland at the end of April, 2001. This meant that Ireland was again free to trade in EU markets at that time.
Furthermore, on 19 September 2001, I announced that the World Organisation for Animal Health – OIE – had restored Ireland's FMD free status. The OIE decision reflected satisfaction on the part of the OIE that the measures undertaken by the Irish authorities following the confirmation of a single case of foot and mouth disease had been effective. Such measures included extensive serological assessment of the national sheep flock, which entailed the testing of 160,000 individual samples.
This outcome is the product of the efforts of all sections of the community over a period of many months to ensure that we rid the country once again of FMD and that we prevent the disease being re-imported. The major impact of the OIE decision is to entirely remove the basis for any restrictions on the trade of animals and animal products from Ireland which were imposed by other countries as a result of the FMD case here.
Finally, there remains a market difficulty in relation to the sale of beef arising from concerns about BSE in Europe generally. This is not a problem specific to Ireland where there is a low incidence of the disease, and indeed the product of the stringent controls adopted in Ireland in 1996 is that while the number of BSE cases has risen this year, no animals born after 1996 have yet been identified with the disease. This contrasts with the experience in a number of other member states where stringent feed controls were introduced only in 1999, and where younger animals have been identified with the disease.
The effectiveness of the Irish controls now appears to have been accepted in our main beef markets, and I am satisfied that these controls provide a sound basis for confidence in Irish beef.
