Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this really important issue. Our livestock sector faces ever-increasing animal health threats. Diseases such as bluetongue threaten our cattle and sheep. I take the threat of bluetongue virus, BTV, very seriously. My Department carries out post-entry sampling of all ruminant animals and camelids from mainland Europe for BTV regardless of the bluetongue status of the country of origin. This mitigates the risk of the disease being inadvertently imported with live animals. The EU TRACES system indicates that no such animals have entered Ireland from mainland Europe this year. No susceptible species have been permitted to be imported into Ireland from Great Britain since late 2023, when the first cases of bluetongue serotype 3 occurred in England.

My Department carried out active surveillance for bluetongue in the east and south east of the country in the summer of 2024. Four farms in each of five south eastern counties were targeted, with 15 animals per farm sampled. A total of 300 animals were tested and all were negative. This followed an earlier enhanced surveillance effort in spring 2024 during which 205 animals were tested, again with negative results. This provided assurance that bluetongue was not already present in Ireland. My Department's regional veterinary laboratory network also routinely samples malformed foetuses for bluetongue testing as this can be an early indication of infection in a herd or flock.

I recognise the importance of communication and engagement with stakeholders on this issue, which is why my Department convened a number of meetings on the threat of bluetongue during 2024 and earlier this year. Department officials have spoken at meetings of farmers and veterinary practitioners to raise awareness of this threat. There has been regular engagement between my officials and their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs under Minister Muir regarding proposed disease control measures for BTV, given that the island is one epidemiological site. Given that we are entering a higher risk period, as the Deputy has outlined, for possible bluetongue incursion, I urge all herd owners and other stakeholders to remain vigilant and aware of signs of the disease and to report any suspicions of the disease in their livestock to my Department without delay.

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