Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 20 together. My response will be technical but I will give the Deputy a more direct response to supplementary questions he might have.

The identification and registration of horses is governed by EU Council Directives 90/426/EEC and 90/427/EEC and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 504/2008 of 2008. The EU legislation has been transposed into national legislation. Regulation 504/2008 came into effect in July 2009. It provides that if an equine animal has not been identified within six months of the date of its birth, or by 31 December in the year of its birth, whichever date occurs later, it cannot be admitted to the food chain. It also provides that all equine animals registered after that datemust be identified with a passport and a microchip. However, equines identified prior to that date in accordance with EU regulations then in force are not required by EU legislation to be microchipped, and it is not open to me to impose such a requirement on them.

With regard to the issuing of passports, Regulation No. 504/2008 provides that, in the case of horses that qualify for registration with a breed society, the passport must be issued by the relevant breed society. At present, nine passport-issuing organisations are approved to issue passports in Ireland, although some have been suspended temporarily.

I announced in March that I would like to see the establishment of a single passport issuing organisation. I noted, however, that this would necessitate an amendment to EU legislation. Subsequently, the EU Commission published an action plan for dealing with the fall-out from the horsemeat issue, indicating that it intended to submit a proposal to the agriculture Council of Ministers and the European Parliament to amend existing legislation to provide that competent authorities take over responsibility for issuing passports. A formal Commission proposal is expected in the second half of 2013. I will move to the final stage in the establishment of a single passport-issuing agency once EU legislation provides me with the overarching legal base to put this into effect. In the meantime, my Department is engaged in discussions with the passport-issuing agencies with a view to enhancing the controls on passports at all stages of the process, including veterinary certification, quality of the paper used and security features.

In line with a commitment I gave earlier in the year, my Department has taken significant steps to establish a central equine database on the animal identification and movement, AIM, system. Data for over 70% of equine animals registered with the passport issuing organisations since 1 January 1980 were downloaded onto the central database in recent days. The central database will include information from records obtained at slaughter plants, knackeries, sales and live exports. The information on the central equine database will be used by my Department's veterinary staff to supplement current checks at slaughterhouses, in particular that horses presented for slaughter have been correctly identified and are eligible for slaughter and the human food chain.

I am satisfied that I have acted swiftly, as I promised I would do, to deal with the issues arising from the equine DNA issue.

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