Vol. 524 No. 6
131 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development his views on the findings of a recently published report by the EU Scientific Steering Committee which shows that Ireland is a level 3 BSE country and that BSE levels are likely to continue to increase; if he has satisfied himself that sufficient work is being undertaken to reduce the instances of BSE here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23409/00]
I am satisfied that the comprehensive range of measures we have in place is proving effective. In the first instance, the overall incidence of BSE in this country continues to be extremely low with a total of just 528 cases since 1989 while the cattle population exceeded more than 7.5 million each year. The higher number of cases here this year was foreseen in the recent report of the European Union's Scientific Steering Committee which predicted a temporary increase in the number of cases for the next couple of years from animals infected prior to the measures introduced in 1996 and 1997 taking full effect. That committee also concluded that the Irish system was "optimally stable", meaning that the measures in place since then prevent the agent of BSE from re-infecting cattle. Likewise the plan of action prepared in the context of the Agri-Food 2010 report acknowledged that the number of BSE cases are unlikely to decline until after 2002. I would like to draw particular attention to the fewer numbers of BSE cases aged five years or less this year which tends to confirm the views of the Scientific Steering Committee that we can expect to see a reduction in the number of cases from 2002.
