Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 20 Jun 1995

Vol. 454 No. 6

Written Answers. - Cattle Tagging.

Kathleen Lynch

Ceist:

86 Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason for his Department introducing plastic tags for cattle identification in view of the fact that his Department intends continuing the use of brass tags simultaneously; his views on whether the duplication involves a substantial unnecessary cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10680/95]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

EU Directive 92/102 on the identification and registration of animals in the context of intra-Community trade, requires that bovine animals carry identification marks meeting certain requirements. These specify, inter alia, that the animal's eartag must be applied within 30 days of birth and that this must be done at the holding of birth. The eartag must be easy to read for the animal's lifetime and the information code on it must be such that the holding of birth on which the animal was born can be identified.

The EU legislation on the payment of livestock aid schemes also requires that animals must be identified in accordance with the above mentioned Directive.

At present all animals in Ireland are identified with a small metal tag which is applied by veterinary practitioners under the disease eradication schemes arrangements. That tag, whilst quite successful and appropriate for the purposes of those schemes, is not capable of meeting some of the requirements of Directive 92/102. It is necessary therefore to introduce a new national identify system for animals which will involve the use of easier to read tags which farmers will be required to insert in their animals within 30 days of birth. It is considered that plastic tags would best meet these requirements.

In a situation like this, it is prudent to envisage a transition period during which both old and new tagging systems will run in tandem until such time as the new system is working satisfactorily. It is intended that the overlap will be as short as possible and any unnecessary cost will be avoided.