Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on the suspected case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, in County Louth and its probable consequences for the negligible risk status afforded to Ireland by the World Organisation for Animal Health. [26065/15]

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister answered most of this question when replying to Deputy Broughan's question but what are the consequences of a negligible risk status following the outbreak of BSE in County Louth? How will it affect our international exports, particularly with the opening of the markets in China?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I was relieved when we got the final results of our tests last week because it was confirmation of what we had suspected to be the case. This was a once-off, isolated case. Obviously we would rather it did not happen. Last year we had no cases. The year before we had one. The year before that there were three cases. These one-off cases seem to happen. They happen in other countries as well. When BSE is a historical problem that is being dealt with, there seem to be isolated cases every now and again which need to be caught by the system and dealt with in a transparent and comprehensive way. I hope and I think that is the way we dealt with this case. In doing that, markets and the industry have been pretty calm in their response. There has been no indication any damage will be done to Ireland's reputation or our capacity to trade. We are a big exporter and trader of beef. When something unexpected and unwelcome happens, my job is to ensure we are very open about it and deal with it in a full and comprehensive way by testing and proving there is no other problem apart from the one outlier. We did this with the testing systems we had in place.

It is unfortunate that this happened the week after the World Organisation for Animal Health, the OIE, essentially recognised that Ireland has done a really good job dealing with BSE as a historical problem by classifying the country as being in the negligible risk category. We were delighted with that classification. It may now need to reassess the classification as a result of this case because its rules require it to do so and we will, potentially, go back to where we were a month ago. Let us not forget, however, that we opened up all these new markets, and we have been more successful than any other European country in doing so, with a controlled risk status. On the basis of that controlled risk status, which I think everyone recognises is very comprehensive, we can continue to expand and grow our beef trade into new markets such as China and the United States in a very exciting way. I am very confident we can do that.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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It is very seldom any compliments are thrown around this House but let me say at the outset that the Minister and his Department have done a very good job in this instance and it is worth noting. Regarding the contamination and where it came from and so forth, my understanding is that the animal in question was the daughter of an import or an import itself from Germany.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Its grandmother was imported but tested negative for BSE.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Retrospective testing was done there as well. What about the calves from this cow? She was a six year old cow. I assume she had four calves. Were the calves male or female and did any of those calves find their way into the food chain?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am glad to clear up this matter. The animal had four calves. All four progeny were alive. They have all been slaughtered and they have all tested negative. There is a very tenuous link, if a link at all, between a mother and a calf as regards the passing on of BSE. Some scientists suggest it is possible; others say it is very unlikely. We know, however, that it is a non-issue here. We know the mother of this animal did not have BSE because she was tested. The grandmother that had been imported was also tested when slaughtered and tested negative. The four progeny all tested negative as well. The 63 other animals born the year before, the year after, and the same year as this animal and all of which grew up on the same farm were all slaughtered and tested and they all tested negative. All the animals that could have been connected in any way, through progeny or through other cohorts which would have been feeding on the same feed as this animal, tested negative. It is important and reassuring to note that fact. Something happened here which was not systemic. It certainly was not a broad problem in terms of the import of feed because it was isolated to one animal.