Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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11. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will promulgate emergency interim measures to allow farmers and knackeries to dispose of dead animals in light of their accumulation, with the resultant risk to sanitation, due to the strike by renderers since 1 December 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55812/23]

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Will the Minister promulgate emergency interim measures to allow farmers and knackeries to dispose of dead animals in light of their accumulation, with the resulting risk to sanitation, due to the strike by renderers since 1 December 2023? Will he make a statement on the matter? Perhaps that statement might address whether the concentration of power and ownership in the processing sector is now coming back to bite the Department, as it has been biting primary producers for a very long time.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I have been monitoring this very closely over the past week and a half. I have been quite concerned about it and have been making sure my team has been engaging to try to facilitate a resolution.

My Department operates a fallen animal scheme in which the Exchequer provides financial support to assist farmers with the disposal of animals that die on farm. This support is channelled through the animal collectors and rendering industry to subsidise the cost of rendering.

I am very aware of the challenge whereby renderers have recently increased their fees to animal collectors for rendering. Renderers took a decision on Friday, 1 December to no longer accept fallen animals.

My officials are continuing to engage with stakeholders to find a resolution to this issue. This engagement has included recent meetings with the Irish Category One Renderers Association, ICORA. However, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not in dispute with either animal collectors or the rendering industry, and I have called on the renderers and collectors to engage proactively with each other to resolve their differences.

In the absence of a resolution between the two parties, in support of farmers and in recognition of the serious nature of this issue, I have acted to provide alternative options to farmers. I have now ensured animal collectors can access category 1 rendering facilities in Northern Ireland. To support collectors accessing this option, a guidance document outlining the requirements for dispatch to rendering plants in Northern Ireland has been sent to the animal collectors' association.

When a farmer discovers a fallen animal, the first contact point should be their local fallen animal collector. However, in exceptional circumstances, such as when a farmer is not able to get a collector to remove a dead animal carcase, burial on the farm may be considered. This requires a burial licence from DAFM and understandably comes with strict environmental conditions. To obtain a licence, the herdkeeper must inform the local regional veterinary office of the Department, which will provide the information required.

I am very aware of the difficulties the situation is causing for farmers and I am doing everything I can to help resolve it as early as possible.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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For parts of the country, it will be of great benefit to be able to dispose of animals in Northern Ireland; however, for the part of the country I represent, and I dare say any part south of that, it will be less helpful, purely because of the geography. The cost of driving dead animals from west Cork to Northern Ireland would be prohibitive. I do not know whether the Minister can tell us how many fallen animals have been sent to Northern Ireland since the agreement was made. It may well be that it is very helpful. It is good if it is in Border areas or even further south. However, in Clare, and, I dare say, any part of Munster or south Leinster, it is less of a solution.

With regard to the ability to dispose of animals on farm once strict environmental criteria are met, having applied to the Department of Agriculture, my question concerns the Department's expertise in applying the environmental criteria the Minister has set down. Will it cause a bottleneck? The Department has expertise in agriculture and perhaps veterinary matters but less so in environmental matters.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I accept it is not ideal and that the further you are from the North, the longer the journey and the less practical the arrangement. However, it is an option and an outlet. In the absence of the three rendering plants in the Republic accepting carcases, I have removed the rules that restricted the distance you can go with a fallen animal to 125 km. Now, no matter what part of the country you are in, you can go to the North. That outlet is available, although it is not nearly as practical as the previous one.

Thankfully, this is a colder time of the year, but this has been going on for a week and a half.

If a farmer has an animal that has fallen over a week ago and needs a solution, he or she should contact his or her animal collector first and foremost. The option is there for the collector to go to the North but in the absence of that, I provided an emergency option yesterday for farmers to contact their local Department regional veterinary office to get a licence to bury the animal. Up to 30 years ago, and including when I was growing up, all animals were buried on the farm. We have moved away from that practice and we need to stay away from that practice but there is an emergency because the three renderers are not accepting animal carcases at the moment so I am providing an opportunity to farmers to apply for that authorisation.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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At the outset, I asked whether the Minister thinks that the concentration of ownership within the processing sector, which includes the rendering sector, is part of the problem and is coming back to bite the Department, as it has done. Farmers have been objecting to the concentration of power in the beef processing sector for a very long time. Is the fact that there are so few renderers and that they seem to be linked part of the problem? They are still accepting material from beef factories and those factories tend to be owned by the same people as the renderers. It is a cosy club in the beef sector to an extent, unless you are a primary producer and are outside of that.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department's contribution towards the rendering of animals and the very high percentage we pay the animal collectors for covering the rendering costs apply to rendering costs in the North as well. Obviously, it does not address transport. There has been an accumulation of more animals in some cases so the option is there for larger loads to go to the North but we are in an emergency and I hope to see this issue resolved in the near future.

The Deputy is right. I have dug many a hole to bury large animals in the past. It is not an easy job. There are more small diggers in the countryside than there were in the past but it is a real inconvenience. There is an emergency - we are doing something we would rather not be doing - and we need to provide farmers with solutions. It is not possible to put schemes in place in the very short term. I hope we will not need to do this tomorrow and I certainly hope we will not need to do this next week or the week after, but it is an option in an emergency where somebody has the capacity to find an alternative.

In response to Deputy McNamara's point, there are three renderers in the country. I would like to see more. All three are not accepting at the moment. There were many animal collectors in the country at one time - 30 or 40 - but they all stopped collecting a couple of years ago.