Breeda Moynihan-Cronin
Ceist:247 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason for the delay in issuing a lairage licence for a company (details supplied) in County Wicklow. [4699/03]
Written Answers. - Live Exports.
The application referred to is one of a number of similar applications on hand at present. EU Council Directive 97/12 requires that export lairages be under the supervision of an official veterinarian. It is neither practical nor reasonable to expect that my Department can supervise an unlimited number of such premises.
In this instance, there are a significant number of services competing for veterinary time in the area in which it is intended to operate this lairage. These include services relating to BSE and scrapie, TB and brucellosis, veterinary supervision at slaughter plants, veterinary inspection of live exports and other similar services. In addition, from the point of view of facilitating live exports, the number of assembly centres currently approved is not a limitation on the numbers of animals, which may be exported.
In these circumstances the applicant in question has been informed that approval to operate as an assembly centre is not feasible at this time. The matter will be kept under review, however, and should there be any change in current circumstances the application referred to in the Deputy's question will be re-considered.