Farm leaders support health security measures
IFA president Padraig Walshe and Ulster Farmers’ Union leader Kenneth Sharkey came together on the fringes of the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show to deliver their message. They considered the latest developments following the outbreak of the disease last week.
In an agreed joint statement, both presidents said their organisations and members support the measures taken by the Department of Agriculture and Food in Dublin and the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Belfast.
“Our organisations are committed to working closely together to protect the high animal health status on the island of Ireland.
“This is essential to safeguard our agriculture and food industries, to maintain vital export markets and to avoid the economic disaster that a Foot and Mouth outbreak could bring to our wider economies, north and south,” they said.
The leaders made a joint call on Agriculture Ministers Mary Coughlan and Michelle Gildernew to co-operate in seeking an immediate EU ban on all Brazilian beef imports because of what they described as the unnecessary and unacceptable risks posed to livestock in Ireland and Europe.
“The livestock farmers we represent cannot understand the failure to impose a ban, given that foot and mouth disease is endemic in Brazil, while a precautionary ban has rightly been imposed on meat from Britain following the outbreak in Surrey,” they said.
Also, at the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show yesterday, Minister Mary Coughlan announced measures to protect the Irish horse industry from diseases such as swamp fever are to be stepped up.
She said her Department had previously relied on publicity campaigns to ensure compliance with the regulations but it had now concluded that stricter enforcement measures are required.
Minister Coughlan specifically announced there will be stricter enforcement and inspection of passports and identification for horses going to shows, sales, race meetings and such events.
She said her Department inspectors will now have enhanced powers in the enforcement of the EU regulations in this regard.
In addition, marts, sales yards and other premises, where horses are assembled, will be required to ensure that horses entering their premises have valid passports. Horses without passports will be sent back home.
Department officials will carry out random inspections to ensure compliance with these regulations by both horse owners and other operators where there has been a huge increase in the movement of horses in recent years.
She said compliance with the regulations is essential in the protection of the country’s equine population and industry, with the sport horse sector alone now worth in excess of €400 million and involving approximately 53,000 people.
She said it is just over a year since Ireland experienced its first case of Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA), a potentially fatal viral infection in horses, but with no human health implications.
