Brian O'Shea
Ceist:68 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the long-term plan for disposal of BSE infected animals and specified risk material; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14075/01]
Priority Questions. - Disposal of BSE Infected Animals.
My Department is examining a number of possible options regarding the long-term disposal of BSE infected animals and specified risk material – SRM. My preferred option for disposal is incineration. There is however no suitable public or commercial incineration facility available in Ireland at present. There have been well publicised difficulties in advancing incineration facilities in this country.
A second option being examined is a process whereby carcasses or material would be dissolved in a solution of sodium hydroxide. This particular process is currently being validated in conjunction with the European Commission to establish its effectiveness in destroying the prion. My Department remains in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding other options.
I can assure the Deputy that my Department will pursue any viable options which hold the prospect of resolving the substantive disposal issue. Such options will require the agreement of others, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dr. Upton
Is the Minister satisfied that the current procedures in place will continue to be adequate given that the numbers of cases of BSE continue to increase relative to this time last year? The volume of SRM has also increased.
There is a major problem. We now have in excess of 100,000 tonnes of material, typically meat and bonemeal material, in storage around the country. There is a cost to storage and also a cost in exporting the material when the opportunity arises. The volume of SRM increased considerably when SRM designations were increased by the EU last year. We have an acute and a very costly problem. The age profile of the BSE incidence is increasingly in older animals, etc., and we are hopeful that it will be washed out of the system. It could take up to two years to do that. In the meantime, I would like the sodium hydroxide option or some other thermal treatment option to be available. It is not possible to have a natural resource industry, a food industry, without having disposal facilities.
Can the Minister say if there are any sales of meat and bonemeal to any part of the world from Ireland? Can he indicate what will happen to the meat and bonemeal which is in storage? Is that being shipped to facilities outside the country?
We have meat and bonemeal in storage. We have no facilities within the country for disposal. We have had consultations with a whole range of companies and to date none has put forward proposals for the processing of meat and bonemeal. It is extremely difficult to export it because other European countries have a similar problem. The amount of meat and bonemeal has increased very considerably and the outlets have decreased. We have in excess of 100,000 tonnes of meat and bonemeal in storage. It seems we will have a continuing problem because the utilisation of meat and bonemeal for any kind of animal feeding is out of the question.
We do not have a sale.
I have two brief questions. Can the Minister say what happens to all the specified risk material that has been removed from carcasses up to now and all of the carcass material from suspect animals and animals in the purchase for destruction scheme? Is it the case that all that material is under the control of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development?
Can the Minister say what happens to the substance that is produced by this sodium hydrolosis of carcasses and how is that disposed of?
The answer to the first question is that it is under the control of the Department.
All of it?
There is a major problem in relation to sodium hydrolosis because it uses a considerable amount of water and leaves a mess. The final end product has to be stored anyway so the only advantage is that the amount and volume of material is reduced considerably.
It is another piece of Green Party insanity.
One could say that.
Acting Chairman
A brief question from Deputy Penrose.
The markets for this material are now experiencing difficulties of their own. Are they now refusing to take this material?
The difficulty is that a developed economy in any member state does not want to be the mudguard of the rest of Europe and facili tate the disposal of risk material from an individual member state. There is a responsibility on any member state that has a natural resource industry, as we have, to provide the waste management facilities for it.