Vol. 567 No. 3
57 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of personnel engaged to prevent the personal import of meat and dairy products at ports and airports; the number of personal imports that have been detected in 2002 and 2003; the action which has been taken in relation to these attempted imports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13998/03]
There are currently a total of 68 Department personnel involved in this work. Most of these officers are engaged part-time in this area and also have other Departmental functions. A total of 6,662 seizures of illegally imported animal products were made during 2002 and in 2003 to date, officers of the Department have made 2,673 seizures of such products. Arrangements are made under the supervision of my Department for the safe disposal of seized material.
For the purpose of the protection of public and animal health, the personal import of meat and dairy products from outside of the EU and including the accession countries and Norway, Switzerland, Greenland, Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino, and Liechtenstein has been prohibited under Commission Decision No. 2002/995/EC. This decision has been has been implemented in Ireland under Statutory Instrument No. 114 of 2003 entitled Diseases of Animals Act 1966 (Control on Animal Products) Order 2003.
Operators of ports and airports are required to display posters to the effect that import of animal based products from third countries are not permitted and transport operators are required to bring this information to the attention of passengers who are entering the EU. There are provisions under this legislation to permit small quantities of infant food or special food that is required for medical reasons to be imported where it is packaged as a proprietary brand product that does not require refrigeration before opening and is contained in an unbroken and unopened package.
