Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I will not have time to read the entire reply but I presume it will be included in the Official Report.

The national disease control centre, NDCC, of my Department brings together a range of veterinary, scientific, administrative and legal expertise available throughout the Department. Meetings of the NDCC's management committee are frequently chaired by me or, in my absence, by the Secretary General. The management committee has been particularly effective in planning and managing my Department's response to various disease threats, whether in respect of to avian influenza, foot and mouth disease or bluetongue. The committee's essential role is to assess the threat posed by developments on any disease front and to make recommendations to me regarding the adequacy of my Department's contingency arrangements.

In addition to the range of expertise available within Department, the NDCC also has ready access to expert advice from the national parks and wildlife service of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and BirdWatch Ireland, as well as expert meteorological advice from Met Éireann and epidemiological expertise from the centre for veterinary epidemiology and risk analysis at UCD. With regard to avian influenza and foot and mouth, I can also draw, as required, on the advice provided by an expert advisory group chaired by Professor Michael Monaghan of UCD.

The implementation of effective biosecurity measures, both nationally and at farm level, is a critical component of our contingency plans. My Department has frequently provided biosecurity advice and has continually encouraged farmers to apply the highest standards of biosecurity at farm level.

Based on the advice available, from various sources, the immediate risk of an outbreak of avian flu, foot and mouth disease or bluetongue is regarded as relatively low at present. In respect of avian flu, we are close to the end of the current migration season and there is very little migration between Ireland and Germany, France and the Czech Republic, with which the strain of the virus found in England has been associated. While the most recent case of foot and mouth disease in England was confirmed on 30 September, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued a statement this morning in which he said that, following an incident involving live foot and mouth virus at the Merial laboratory plant at Pirbright, an inspection team, of which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, was part, had concluded that "while it was possible that live virus had entered the contained drainage system — they are assured that the live virus had not been released to the environment".

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

A full report is to be provided to the chief veterinary officer in the UK, after which DEFRA will consider what further action needs to be taken. Given the link between the original outbreak and the Pirbright site, we are obviously maintaining close contact with DEFRA and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland in respect of this situation and we await the outcome of the inspection report and any further actions considered appropriate by DEFRA.

With regard to bluetongue, the risk is principally associated with the introduction of an infected animal or through infected midges. While animals may now be imported from bluetongue-affected areas, the conditions under which this may happen are very restrictive and are intended to significantly reduce the risk of an infected animal being imported. Meanwhile the Department's vector surveillance programme shows that the level of vector activity has declined very significantly in recent few weeks. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the respective disease situations will continue to be monitored closely and I will apply any revisions to our contingency arrangements made, where appropriate.

Central also to our contingency arrangements has been the excellent level of co-operation between my Department and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland. Both Departments have a shared commitment to the maintenance of an all-island approach to the disease threats posed and have collaborated very closely in the adoption of identical control measures. I am satisfied my Department has in place the necessary contingency arrangements, including sufficient legislative powers, based on our expert assessment of the current level of risk of a disease outbreak.

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