Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

It is important, in the first instance, to emphasise that I have never had discretion to raise the age thresholds for BSE testing as these are fixed at EU level. I have, however, been a constant advocate of change and have taken and continue to take every opportunity to impress upon Commissioner Kyprianou the overwhelming case I believe exists to raise the age limits. My officials have also taken similar opportunities to press the case for change.

My contention that the age limits should be raised is supported by any analysis of the existing surveillance programme. In 2006, more than 10 million tests, of which 8.5 million were in healthy slaughtered animals, were carried out throughout the EU with just 285 or 0.003% positive cases detected, of which 62 were in healthy slaughtered animals. Since 2001 some 4.7 million tests have been carried out in Ireland. As the House will be aware, the number of cases being identified here has fallen dramatically since 2001, when there were 333. This compares with 41 last year and 20 to date this year. The existing requirement that all bovines over 30 months of age slaughtered for human consumption must be tested, with all casualty animals over 24 months and all fallen stock over 24 months, is provided for under Regulation (EC) 999/2001.

In recent months the European Commission has proposed changes to the existing testing regime, the most recent of which were proposed at a meeting of chief veterinary officers in October. They were since discussed at a meeting of the TSE working group in Brussels earlier this month. The proposals now tabled by the Commission represent a vindication of my efforts in the past three years. I look forward with optimism to a successful conclusion to the current discussions.

The current options in respect of healthy slaughtered animals are to test all cattle aged over 42 months; to test all cattle born before 1 January 2002 and 50% of those born since and aged over 42 months; or to test all animals born before 1 January 2004 and none of those born since. It is also proposed, under each option, that, in respect of emergency slaughtered cattle and fallen stock, all cattle over 36 months would be BSE tested.

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