Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With all due respect to the Minister of State sitting opposite, it is disappointing that a Minister from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not present to answer this question on the funding shortfall the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, is experiencing.

The background to this situation is that the Department made the decision to allow multiple companies to tender for tags. Obviously, a number of companies applied to be able to sell tags to Irish farmers. The voluntary levy which farmers paid, and which was the main source of funding for the ICBF, was highlighted on the order forms farmers received. Between 1 October and 31 March, 50,633 farmers and herdowners ordered 2.057 million tags. Some 25,069 of those herdowners opted not to pay the levy, resulting in 1,091,238 tag sets that did not contribute the levy to the ICBF. This resulted in a shortfall in funding of €414,670 for the ICBF for that six-month period.

While the ICBF has had its critics, it has played a vital role in the development of both dairy and beef herds in this country. The advancement in the economic breeding index, EBI, of the dairy herd in particular is in no small way down to the ICBF, which was founded in 1998. In recent months it was in the spotlight with regard to EBI evaluations. Leaving that aside, it has played a huge role in the advancement of beef genetics and the genetic potential of both dairy and beef herds in this country.

Unless the shortfall to which I refer is addressed by means of some mechanism brought forward by the Department, the ICBF cannot continue to operate. While there are other minor sources of funding for the ICBF, its major source is the voluntary levy from tags. As I have mentioned, the voluntary levy came into the spotlight as a result of the Department's decision to allow multiple companies to tender to supply tags. The ICBF's role is hugely important to the progression of both our dairy and beef herds.

The issue of how the ICBF will be funded into the future needs to be addressed fairly rapidly as the vast majority of tags are ordered in the period from September to spring. If there is going to be another source of income for ICBF, the Minister needs to come forward with proposals fairly quickly, in order that the ICBF will be secure and know what funding will be available to it in the future. This shortfall in funding cannot be borne by the ICBF for any length of time. Its operations will cease very quickly. I know this has been a matter of discussion with the board of the ICBF and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, but I would be greatly appreciative the Minister of State could tell us what the Department's action will be and how this funding issue will be resolved. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.

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