Parliamentary questions

Plant Protection Products

Maureen O'Sullivan

418. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason Coillte has only conducted one water test on the impacts of Cypermethrin; and if he will initiate independent testing on random sites to ascertain the impacts of this poison on flora, fauna, water, soil and human health, given that it is an endocrine, immune system disrupter in mammals. [29208/15]

Plant Protection Products

Maureen O'Sullivan

419. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the Forest Service, as the regulator of the Irish forest sector, has not conducted any testing or monitoring of the impacts of Cypermethrin on soil, water, flora, and fauna in Irish public forests, as 100,000 litres of this toxic chemical have been used by Coillte over a ten year period. [29209/15]

Plant Protection Products

Maureen O'Sullivan

420. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent of the use of Cypermethrin in Irish agriculture, horticulture, and aquaculture; the number of litres that have been used and the number of years involved. [29210/15]

Animal Welfare

Maureen O'Sullivan

101. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware of additional information regarding the way in which animals belonging to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare were treated by the Turf Club and Horse Racing Ireland; if there has been an investigation or an examination of the facts surrounding this person's grievance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27861/15]

Fur Farming

Maureen O'Sullivan

184. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 168 of 28 April 2015, if he will confirm the names of the two former fur farm operators who have ceased to hold licences within the past three years. [27042/15]

Animal Welfare Bodies

Maureen O'Sullivan

16. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the criteria used to allocate animal welfare grants; if the process is transparent for all groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25948/15]

Animal Welfare

Maureen O'Sullivan

42. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in light of the management of dog pounds going out to tender for the first time, if his Department will conduct inspections to be certain the highest standards are maintained; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25949/15]

Control of Dogs

Maureen O'Sullivan

302. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if all dogs are scanned for microchips in pounds at present; if this is a legal requirement; if not, his plans to make it compulsory under the new microchipping legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25743/15]

TB Eradication Scheme

Maureen O'Sullivan

327. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine notwithstanding the lack of scientific evidence linking badgers to the spread of tuberculosis to cattle, if he will initiate a programme of vaccinating badgers, carried out by his Department's staff and-or volunteers, to replace the cruel badger cull which is destroying badger populations, in view of a recent analysis (details supplied) that has proved the vaccination of badgers to be very cost efficient; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26190/15]

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Maureen O'Sullivan

497. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will list, in tabular form, the representations received by him, his Department and his Department’s Ministers of State on any negotiations on the European Union-United States of America Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or negotiations by any other name on the same subject; if he will provide a full list of the persons and organisations from whom these representations came; the number of meetings he, his ministerial colleagues or Department officials have had with interested parties regarding the agreement; with whom they were held and the date on which they took place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22465/15]

Bovine Disease Controls

Maureen O'Sullivan

12. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in view of a report (details supplied) and the findings of the study that badgers avoid fields of cattle and farm buildings containing cattle, if he will acknowledge that badgers have been wrongfully vilified; if he will accordingly suspend his Department's practice of badger cull, which to date has resulted in the snaring and killing of a large number of badgers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18538/15]

Fur Farming

Maureen O'Sullivan

168. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the number and names of active fur farms at present; if any fur farms have closed in the past three years; if any applications have been made to establish new fur farms; if so, the species the potential fur farms are seeking to breed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16778/15]

Hare Coursing Regulation

Maureen O'Sullivan

176. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action he is taking to address the situation in Clonmel, County Tipperary during the national coursing meeting, where hares were kept in captivity for numerous days, when the coursing was cancelled due to bad weather, contrary to hare maintenance guidelines set out by the Irish Coursing Club (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10182/15]

Bord na gCon

Maureen O'Sullivan

314. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will ensure that all records and information on greyhound microchipping is available to the general public; if he will instruct the Irish Greyhound Board and Irish Coursing Club to release records of compulsory microchipping of greyhounds into the public domain, to ensure transparency in the industry with regard to animal welfare; his views that there is no reason for said information to be secretive or exclusive to certain bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12878/15]

Animal Welfare

Maureen O'Sullivan

135. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in view of a recent hunting report (details supplied), which reveals that a fox was hunted by 37 hounds for over 13 miles, if he will acknowledge the cruelty involved and remove the exemption for fox hunting from the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6665/15]

Animal Welfare

Maureen O'Sullivan

152. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the fact that due to the cancellation of a national coursing meeting in Clonmel, County Tipperary, due to weather conditions, hares were kept in unnatural and stressful captivity overnight at the venue, while awaiting the meeting to recommence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6664/15]

Inshore Fisheries

Maureen O'Sullivan

283. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 219 of 25 November 2014, if he will provide a copy of the terms of reference, scoping information or direction provided for this programme of risk assessment undertaken by the Marine Institute in respect of species protected under the annexes of the habitats directive, which was referred to in the response; if he will provide a copy of any reports, findings and recommendations and all outputs the Marine Institute prepared in the execution of the risk assessment for species protected under the annexes of the habitats directive, which was referred to in the response; when the risk assessment was conducted; the resources that were made available to the Marine Institute to execute this study; if he will provide a copy of the guidance from the Commission, which he referred to in his response; if he will provide a copy of the programme of measures, which he referred to; the priorities identified; the way these have been prioritised; the way their delivery is being addressed, and the resources that are involved; the persons responsible for the programme of measures he referred to; if any report on the programme of measures is available; if he will provide a copy of same, or if he will indicate when it will be available; if the programme of measures referred to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union on case c-183/05 or if he will specify what the programme of measures is in response to; when the further programme of measures and outcomes referred to, as being necessary, are going to be specified; if he will specify what they pertain to; if he will provide a copy of same, if they are available; if he will provide a copy of the Commission opinion on the programme of measures which he referred to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7098/15]

Environmental Policy

Maureen O'Sullivan

266. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the regulations in place in relation to rodent control as there are concerns that bags of rodent poison are causing the deaths of birds. [5482/15]

Inshore Fisheries

Maureen O'Sullivan

219. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action he will take to address the calls from groups such as Irish Wildlife Trust, BirdWatch Ireland, Coastwatch and numerous other agencies to ban tangle nets from inshore fishing here as they are causing indiscriminate capture of marine life including critically endangered species such as angel sharks and protected species such as whales; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44794/14]

Hare Coursing

Maureen O'Sullivan

36. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in view of the fact that hare coursing is now a criminal offence in Britain, Northern Ireland and much of Europe, if it is time to make this barbaric so called sport a practice of the past, follow in the footsteps of Australia by replacing live hare coursing with drag coursing to ensure no loss of jobs in the industry; if he acknowledges the extent of injuries to hares and greyhounds to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40058/14]