Mr. Barry Delany:

We are applying a very detailed standard operating procedure that is based on the internationally agreed ways of checking these large consignments and how to go about it. That is what we are doing. I invite the committee to join us very soon, perhaps at the next shipment in Wicklow, to see what we do and how it is dealt with. It is not the case that it is coming off, going on lorries and leaving. It is taken off, put onto dockside and brought into an inspection area for us inspect and work through. I would really like to do that so members can see what we do.

Regarding expertise, DAFM invested an awful lot in plant health recently. As a result of our plant health and biosecurity strategy, we have many experts in-house. We have entomologists who are renowned within Ireland but also the European context. They are engaged in the European reference laboratories as well as the European plant protection organisation, committees that discuss how to detect these forest beetles and other beetles beyond that in the horticulture sector as well. That is important to get across. It is on the basis of that information and our engagement with the experts across Europe that we try to take the best approach we can to ensure that our Scottish colleagues’ export certification is compliant, and it also determines what we do at the first point of entry as it comes through Rushbrooke and Wicklow.