Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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29. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason it was necessary to permit the shooting of five cattle on a County Monaghan farm recently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21316/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The actions in question were undertaken under the overall control of the official assignee in bankruptcy acting as an officer of the court, who has stated publicly that the decision to proceed in the way he did in respect of the cattle was made reluctantly and in the interests of the public safety of the local community. It should also be noted that the cattle were at the time in the ownership of the official assignee, into whose name the herd number had been transferred, and that the herd in question was TB restricted on 18 February due to the disclosure of TB lesions in cattle slaughtered from the herd.

Significant efforts had been made to contain the animals, but these proved futile because of their feral nature. In the interests of public safety, the official assignee, in consultation with the Garda and the Department, considered that the optimal course of action to be taken was for the animals to be euthanised. The protocol agreed between my Department and the Department of Defence was invoked and the animals were subsequently killed by skilled Army personnel in line with it.

It is the view of my Department that the actions taken were the most humane in the circumstances and I am advised that there was no alternative action available to the official assignee in the circumstances, taking account of the fact that the interest of public safety was the primary consideration at all times.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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The action has been taken and the matter has been well rehearsed in the House in the past week. Given the size of the national herd, I find it difficult to believe, and many people found it shocking, that these cattle could have gone feral in the first instance and that expertise was not available, in particular to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to gather up the cattle and have them removed from the farm without their needing to be shot by the Defence Forces.

For how long was the official assignee responsible for the herd? How was he managing the herd in the run-up to this situation? There should have been another way of dealing with it that was not as visible and shocking to many people as seeing soldiers in fields shooting cattle. Will the Minister examine whether the Department could have had the expertise to address the situation more efficiently?

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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There was more to this situation than was in the public domain. How often do the Defence Forces act at the request of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in such cases? Was a departmental vet present? Do the Defence Forces receive training in how to handle such situations? Are they always under the charge of departmental personnel when they are called on to aid the civil power in cases where livestock is the focus?

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Clare Daly is correct, in that there is more to this than meets the eye, although some weekend publications gave a pretty accurate summation of the bigger picture.

The Department is not in the business of shooting cattle. In any circumstance, it is the last resort. For this reason, there is an official protocol. This was invoked by the official assignee in consultation with my Department’s veterinary office in Cavan. Departmental veterinary inspectors and local gardaí were involved. On at least four occasions, unsuccessful efforts were made to round up the cattle. There were other instances in which locks on gates were tampered with and cattle were on the public road. The area is near the Carrickmacross-Dundalk road. In trying to manage the herd, the assignee’s concerns about public safety escalated because of incidents.

I appreciate that the outcome was a sight that no one wanted to behold, but what if the cattle had caused a serious, even fatal, accident on the public road? My Department would have equally been in the dock. It was a no-win situation but, in the assignee invoking the protocol and the participation of the Garda, my Department’s veterinary service and the Defence Forces, there are sufficient checks and balances to ensure that this is not something that is done lightly.

I am not aware of when the protocol was last invoked. It is certainly not a routine occurrence. It is not an annual occurrence. We would have to search our records to see when it was last invoked. I will try to find that additional information for the Deputy.

Given the considerable public interest in this matter, I assure the House that the protocol is a last resort for the Department. We do not use it lightly. Associated matters surrounding the appropriate management of the farm and the ability or otherwise of the assignee to manage the process effectively in extraneous circumstances led to this event occurring. It was regrettable, but ultimately necessary for the protection of public safety.