Animal Identification Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 March 2014

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Ceisteanna (481)

Willie Penrose

Ceist:

481. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an assurance to the farming community that all details registered by them on the AIMS database are confidential and cannot be accessed by third parties in order to enable such bodies or organisations to monitor livestock numbers of individual farmers or the herd profiles of such farmers; the way the database is operated and safeguarded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12131/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I can confirm to the Deputy that, as required by the provisions of legislation on Data Protection, information held by my Department on the Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) system is confidential and is maintained for the purposes only for which it was provided. Herd-level data stored on the AIM system in respect of an individual farmer can only be accessed by a third party where the farmer has provided a written authorisation to my Department granting access to that third party. In all other cases, the individual keeper, who has signed up to use AgFood.ie or an approved farm management package, can access her/his own herd profile from the AIM system via the use of a unique secure password.