Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

No prosecutions have taken place as a result of the feeding of meat and bonemeal to cattle since the introduction of the ban. No evidence has been uncovered which would support a prosecution in any case.

I am satisfied, however, that the ban is being enforced, given that the incidence of the disease in the national herd is rapidly declining and that the vast majority of cases have occurred in animals born before the introduction of the enhanced feed controls in 1996 and 1997. In 2004, 126 cases of BSE were confirmed, compared with 182 in 2003 and 333 in 2002. There have been 27 cases to date in 2005, which represents a decrease of 57% on the number of cases discovered in the same period last year. The occurrence of some cases in animals born after 1997 does not detract from the overall positive trend and mirrors the position elsewhere.

The introduction of the rapid testing programme for BSE in 2001 greatly improved the ability of countries to measure both the incidence of the disease in the national population and progress with regard to disease control. The results of that testing programme provide objective evidence that the enhanced feed controls introduced in Ireland in 1996 and 1997 have been very effective. Since 2001, well in excess of 1.5 million cattle born after 1997 have been tested for BSE, with just 12 cases of BSE identified in that category. The tiny fraction of positive tests which have occurred in animals born after 1997 shows that the risk for animals born after that time is very significantly reduced and that those cases are not associated with a systemic failure in the control programme.

See this speech in context