Sheep EID even more urgent after FSAI audit findings
Minister Creed’s efforts to improve sheep identification are laudable insofar as they would, if successful, considerably improve the profile of Irish sheepmeat on the export markets.
However, the arguments that have sprung up between his Department and sheep farmers indicate that the sides are very far apart, and there could be a lengthy dispute which will delay improvement of sheep identification.
The latest development was the publication last week of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s findings that significant numbers of sheep destined for human consumption were not traceable to their farms of origin, in last year’s audit of slaughter establishments.
It might have been better if Minister Creed had waited for publication of those results; their release now may be perceived by farmers as an attempt to embarrass them.
Instead, it was in the first week of May that the Minister announced a mandatory extension of electronic identification (EID) to all sheep.
Despite his offer of a one-off support measure of up to €50 per flock-keeper for the first purchase of EID tags, farmers reacted badly.
IFA President Joe Healy said it added insult to injury after the fodder crisis, on top of the financial challenges sheep farmers endured this winter. IFA National Sheep Chairman Sean Dennehy said it was unacceptable that the Minister did not engage in meaningful consultation with farmers before the announcement.
Denis Carroll of the ICMSA said they were bitterly disappointed they weren’t adequately consulted.
ICSA sheep chairman John Brooks said mandatory EID tagging will cost sheep farmers €2.5m per year, and it came without warning or consultation.
Then came the publication last week of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s findings of untraceable sheep at slaughter plants.
It was followed on the same day by an statement from IFA National Sheep Chairman Sean Dennehy saying sheep farmers are being unfairly scapegoated — a strange reaction, when only a few insiders knew of the just announced FSAI findings.
That may reflect farmers’ embarrassment at being left “offside” in the electronic ID debate by the timing of publication of the damning FSAI results. But the results are embarrassing for the entire sheepmeat industry, not just farmers.
Processors were better prepared for the results.
They had recently said that EID of all sheep would enable Ireland keep pace with other major sheep producing member states in the EU, which they said is critically important for the positioning of Irish lamb in the marketplace.
Minister Creed can also say he was prepared for the bad news in the FSAI results; after all, he had announced the plan for mandatory EID in October, six weeks earlier.
Farmers have been more disadvantaged than other stakeholders in the EID debate by release of the FSAI results.
But there is still some merit in sheep farmers’ argument that they cannot be expected to carry the costs of EID tagging, when the main benefits will be going to the factories, the marts, the Department and the tag suppliers.
Sheep farming in Ireland is, after all, an activity which relies on the generosity of payments from the EU and the national exchequer to stay afloat.
Another argument in farmer’s favour is that the FSAI findings prove the current national sheep identification system in place since 2010 is clearly a failure, and farmers can rightly say the sheep identification job should have been done correctly first day.
As one of the leading net exporters worldwide of sheep meat, Ireland needs a fit-for-purpose sheep identification scheme.
The FSAI audit findings have shown that requirement is missing. Farmers say they cannot afford it, and that is the gap that needs to be bridged in order for the industry to progress.
