Poultry Industry.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 November 2006

Tuesday, 21 November 2006

Ceisteanna (450)

Mary Upton

Ceist:

503 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of Government inspections under the EC Egg Marketing Regulations that have been carried out in each county since the coming into force of those regulations; the number of times, possible illegal practices have been detected on foot of these inspections; the action taken to remove the possibility of such possible illegal practices; the number of eggs and the part of the UK from which they have been imported into Ireland during each of the past five years; and if the eggs imported into Ireland from the UK are affected by the ongoing investigation by the UK DEFRA into possible illegal practices in the UK egg industry. [38929/06]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mary Coughlan)

Table 1 sets out the number of inspections carried out and infringements detected in the past five years under the egg marketing standards regulations. The breakdown by county is not immediately available and will be supplied to the Deputy as soon as the information is compiled. Infringements of the regulations are always dealt with by a letter to the relevant operator requiring corrective action as well as, where warranted, the seizure and destruction of eggs and follow-up inspections to check compliance. There is also the legal option of de-registering packing centres.

The CSO is responsible for the collection of statistics in relation to imports of eggs and egg products. Table 2 sets out the details on imports from the UK over the last five years as supplied by that office.

The DEFRA investigation into possible illegal practices in the UK egg industry is still ongoing. The preliminary information available from the investigation does not indicate that the eggs in question moved from the UK to Ireland. One of the issues being investigated by DEFRA is whether some of the eggs in question originated in Ireland and/or Northern Ireland. My Department will be co-operating with the investigation as necessary.

Table 1

Total Number of Egg Inspections and Infringements
Year	Inspections	Infringements
2006 (to date)	2,156	156
2005	2,817	291
2004	1,899	215
2003	2,112	185
2002	1,685	165

Table 2

2005	Birds Eggs in Shell Fresh Preserved or Cooked	Birds’ Eggs Not in Shell, and Egg Yolks: Dried	Birds’ Eggs, Not in Shell, & Egg Yolks: Other than Dried	Egg Albumin	Totals
	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes
GB	1,426	221	495	91	2,233
Northern Ireland	2,776	5	105		2,886

2004	Birds Eggs in Shell Fresh Preserved or Cooked	Birds’ Eggs Not in Shell, and Egg Yolks: Dried	Birds’ Eggs, Not in Shell, & Egg Yolks: Other than Dried	Egg Albumin	Totals
	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes
GB	1,613	270	295	124	2,302
Northern Ireland	1,817	3	104		1,924

2003	Birds Eggs in Shell Fresh Preserved or Cooked	Birds’ Eggs Not in Shell, and Egg Yolks: Dried	Birds’ Eggs, Not in Shell, & Egg Yolks: Other than Dried	Egg Albumin	Totals
	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes
GB	1,262	170	126	99	1,657
Northern Ireland	1,689	1	87		1,777

2002	Birds Eggs in Shell Fresh Preserved or Cooked	Birds’ Eggs Not in Shell, and Egg Yolks: Dried	Birds’ Eggs, Not in Shell, & Egg Yolks: Other than Dried	Egg Albumin	Totals
	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes
GB	1,272	108	115	59	1,554
Northern Ireland	251	25	79		355

2001	Birds Eggs in Shell Fresh Preserved or Cooked	Birds’ Eggs Not in Shell, and Egg Yolks: Dried	Birds’ Eggs, Not in Shell, & Egg Yolks: Other than Dried	Egg Albumin	Totals
	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes	tonnes
GB	1,510	423	191	183	2,307
Northern Ireland	493	52	161		706