Sheepmeat Sector

Wednesday, 14 November 2018

Questions (247)

Martin Kenny

Question:

247. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of sheep imported from Northern Ireland for the purposes of breeding and slaughter in each of the years 2015 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47303/18]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Further inquiries are being made in order to respond fully to the Deputy's question; the reply will be sent directly to the Deputy.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A

I refer to the above Parliamentary Questions tabled by you on the 14th November 2018 and 5th of December 2018. I am now in a position to provide you with a detailed response to this question, as follows.

The intra EU movement of animals is recorded on the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES), which is the EU-wide online management tool for all sanitary requirements on intra-EU trade and importation of animals, semen and embryo, food, feed and plants.

Figures extracted from the TRACES system for the years requested are listed below. It should be noted that figures for any given period are usually not recorded definitely for up to a period of three months due to the nature of animal movements, and may be subject to revision for the purpose of completeness.

Sheep Imports from Northern Ireland

Year	Quantity of Animals
2015	331,753
2016	431,837
2017	491,551
2018*	467,005

*Figures to the end of November.