I am satisfied that a comprehensive range of measures is in place for the control and eradication of BSE, including compulsory notification of the disease, the depopulation of herds, the tracing and slaughter of birth cohorts and progeny of the infected animal, a ban on the use of meat and bone meal for farmed animals and removal and destruction of specified risk materials from ruminant animals. It has been a characteristic of Ireland's approach to BSE that we have adopted measures which have been more rigorous and in many instances in place earlier than are required by EU legislation.