Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Doyle, is aware, there is a serious outbreak of the H5N8 avian flu. Only yesterday, the ninth case was confirmed. I compliment the Minister of State , the Minister, Deputy Creed, and the Department officials for the swift and appropriate action they took to minimise the effect of this bird flu within the Irish poultry business by introducing a compulsory housing order whereby all commercial poultry are kept indoors. I also compliment the poultry farmers who, by complying with that compulsory order, have to date kept this disease out of the commercial flock.

There are, however, many members of the industry who trade solely in the free range category, particularly free range eggs. Under EU and Irish legislation, if free range hens are continually housed for a period exceeding 12 weeks they lose their free range status. Can any action be taken to help the people involved to overcome this problem? They are in this position because they are doing what they were asked to do in good faith. I commend the Department and the farmers for their action but they will be victims of their own vigilance. The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development was asked about this matter but he is not for lifting the derogation. Can we think outside the box? Is there a plan B to help these people get over the potential loss of their free range status which would put many of them out of business? They will lose their contractual markets. If they want to sell their eggs into the standard market, they will have to rebrand and remarket. This will have potentially serious consequences for these people. Rather than try to compensate and rebuild the industry after it has been lost, can we come up with some solution before that happens?