Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 December 2020
189. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of tonnes of antibiotics added to rations in each of the years 2018, 2019 and to date in 2020 from records kept by compound feeders; the sectors those rations were designated for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40611/20]
View answerMy Department does not currently have data on the overall volume of antibiotics added to rations by compound feeders or the sectors that such rations are designated for.
The Department has, however, introduced an antimicrobial consumption database for pigs (AMUpig) in November 2019 and, so far, has achieved approximately 45% coverage of the Irish pig population. My Department is furthermore working to develop a National Secure Veterinary Digital Prescription System which will address this knowledge gap and provide granular sector specific data to identify where the antibiotics are being used in line with requirements of Regulation EU 2019/6.
The Department does, however, have access to reports from the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) which collates data on overall antibiotic sales for the previous year - data is provided to the HPRA by the marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) that market the various veterinary antibiotics. This provides a high level overview of antibiotic usage in animals in Ireland. The data provided covers both the farmed animal and companion animal sectors. The most recent HPRA report relates to sales of veterinary antibiotics in Ireland in 2019. The sales figures for 2020 will not be available until Q4 2021 due to a lag period between sales occurring and reporting of sales data to the HPRA from MAHs.
These reports detail the total amount of veterinary antibiotics sold in Ireland - in 2018, total sales were 99.4 tons, of which premixes incorporated into compound feed accounted for 29 tons which represents 29.2% of overall sales. Premixes describe those antibiotics that are presented for incorporation into feed.
In 2019, 88.8 tons of veterinary antibiotics were sold and premixes accounted for 32 tons or 37% of the overall total. Although there was an increase in the tonnage of premixes sold in 2019 overall, the 2019 HPRA report showed a significant reduction in sales of antibiotics on the previous year. The data available provides the overall volume of veterinary antibiotics sold in Ireland in a given year, but not sector specific usage data.
One of the key factors in reducing antibiotic use is improvement in animal health. My Department continues to fund research that focuses on disease prevention and other ways of reducing the overall usage of antibiotics in the pig sector. Farming and veterinary stakeholders on the iNAP Animal Health Sector Committee have worked together to develop a “Code of Good Practice for the Responsible use of Antibiotics' guidelines for various sectors. These guidelines provide a valuable reference for farmers as they work with their veterinary practitioner to reduce their overall level of antibiotic use.
My Department had adopted a “One Health One Welfare” approach and the recently launched National Farmed Animal Bio security Strategy outlines key measures in the overall approach to reducing the use of antibiotics through improved animal health thereby address the public health threat of AMR.
