Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 May 2004
105 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if, in relation to the national genotype programme for scrapie resistance testing of sheep, the extra €5 for breed improvement participants has been withdrawn without consultation with the relevant organisation or partners with which this agreement was reached; if this matter can be clarified in full; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15301/04]
View answerThe national genotype programme, NGP, has a number of components, one of which is the availability to all flock owners of a commercial genotyping service in a number of laboratories approved by my Department for NGP purposes. The results of tests carried out in these laboratories will be accepted by my Department as the basis for the issue in respect of each tested animal of a NGP certificate unique to that animal on which will be specified its particular genotype.
Flock owners who avail of this service will pay the cost of having their private veterinary practitioner take a blood sample from each animal which they nominate for genotyping. Each individual flock owner is free to choose any of the three NGP approved laboratories in which to have his or her samples tested and I fully expect that these laboratories will vigorously compete with each other for business.
Apart from scrapie infected flocks, there is as yet no legal requirement on any flock owner to have sheep genotyped, although from April 2005 pedigree flock owners will be required to have rams genotyped. It is nonetheless important that flock owners in Ireland, both pedigree and commercial, begin as soon as possible the process of determining the genotype of their sheep, particularly breeding stock. To encourage flock owners to avail of the new service from the outset, my Department unilaterally took the initiative of providing, as a once-off incentive, a partial cost offset of €10 per test for the first 30,000 tests carried out under the NGP in 2004. This was a unilateral initiative taken by my Department to encourage from the outset flockowner participation in what is in essence a commercial service.
I regard this as a most important development for Ireland's sheep sector and I am anxious that the best possible service will be provided. It had been my intention to provide a cost offset of €15 for the relatively small number of flock owners involved in breed improvement programmes but this would have proved extremely problematic to operate in practical terms in parallel with the operation of the standard €10 cost offset regime. Nonetheless, I continue to recognise the worth of pedigree sheep breed improvement programmes, PSBIP. In that context my Department is at present considering whether a mechanism might be found for providing an additional €5 per test cost offset for PSBIP members who participate in NGP, without compromising the efficiency of the service to farmers generally.
I am pleased with the initial level of interest among flock owners in availing of this service. There is now an established flow of requests to my Department from flock owners seeking the necessary application forms, etcetera. I also note that commercial producers as well as pedigree breeders are showing significant interest. The NGP approved laboratories are ready to accept samples and I expect that in coming weeks we will witness a steady growth in both the number of test results being generated and the number of NGP certificates being issued by my Department. I would again encourage all flock owners to avail of this service at the earliest opportunity.
