Animal Welfare

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 April 2015

Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Questions (284)

Michael Fitzmaurice

Question:

284. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 101 of 17 December 2014 and subsequent correspondence (details supplied), if he will ask the European Commission to re-assess its advice in respect of Article 7 of European Union Regulation No. 576/2013; if he will seek to have Ireland and the United Kingdom placed on the list of member states that are authorised to conclude mutual agreements to derogate from certain conditions of the regulations on the basis that they have equivalent favourable status with regard to rabies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14528/15]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

As previously stated in reply to Questions from the Deputy, the position is that the EU Commission has confirmed that the derogation provided for in Article 7 of EU Regulation No. 576/2013 is applicable to non-commercial movement of pets only and must be applied on an 'all-or-none' basis. In other words, if a Member State decides to avail of the derogation with a view to accepting non-vaccinated pups from a particular EU Member State, it must accept non-vaccinated pups from all EU Member States, irrespective of the Member State's rabies status. I would not be prepared to implement the derogation on this basis because it would significantly increase the risk of an incursion of rabies into the country.  I understand that the UK has also signalled its intention not to avail of the derogation.