Vol. 519 No. 4
24 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if it will take a full year for all the 135,000 farms to be inspected under the beef assurance scheme; when these inspections will commence; the exact date for the completion of these inspections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13854/00]
The specific and detailed arrangements for inspections of farms required under the national beef assurance scheme have yet to be finalised through negotiations and discussions with the interested parties. These discussions have already commenced and my objective is to finalise the outstanding aspects with the minimum of delay.
It has always been my view that the farm inspections in question should be carried out at the time of the annual herd tests, in order to minimise the costs and inconvenience to farmers. Thus, I would envisage that the inspections will be conducted in the course of next year's annual round of testing.
In the interim and to allow the inspections to take place in an ordered fashion, without discrimination, in the initial phase of the national beef assurance scheme, all participants will be given provisional approval. The provisionally approved status will continue until such time as a full round of inspections has taken place.
