Paraic Brady (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise an alarming issue. We had another case of foot and mouth disease, FMD, in Hungary on 6 April. As everybody knows, the sector in Ireland has exported 100,000 cattle this year. The industry has grown and grown and beef is now at €8.40 per kilogram. We have tourists visiting Hungary, Slovenia and places like that. Have we the right measures in place to protect our industry when they come back? Have they been in contact with livestock? Have we disinfection areas at our ports and airports? Have we departmental officials searching bags for meat or content coming into this country? This is serious. If it starts spreading over Europe, we will wipe out an industry that took so long to get off the ground. Diseases do not respect borders and I am very fearful of that. FMD is the most contagious disease at this moment in time in the livestock industry. Is every avenue being followed to protect our industry?