Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

I despair when hearing the Minister of State eulogising the benefits of electronic tagging, given what we have witnessed already in respect of sheep tagging which is in danger of imploding an existing scheme. The Minister of State referred to the advantages such as increased efficiency. He fails to acknowledge that, in the case of sheep tagging, the Commission said that the error rate was in the region of 15%. This issue needs to be dealt with now and it needs to be taken off the agenda. We have a traceability system for beef and it was shown to work any time it was challenged and we do not need to satisfy some consultants' exercise an electronic identification system for cattle. The case of the sheep sector showed another instance of a Minister who went to Brussels and came home and said he lost. We need to have no truck with this issue of electronic tagging for bovines. The point was made in the context of the electronic tagging of sheep that the equivalent comparative cost for bovines would be in the region of €30 per head. The Minister of State should not participate. I ask him to advise the Commission that we will not co-operate on electronic tagging for bovines.

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