Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I have a number of questions, the answers to which the Minister of State may not have but I would appreciate if he could get them for me as quickly as possible. Have the turkeys at the Clontibret site been culled yet? If not, when will that take place? What assurance can the Minister of State give regarding adequate and secure supply of CO2 gas to support humane culling operations, particularly if further outbreaks occur? Will the Minister of State share the evaluation tables with the industry? Which contractor gas-culling company currently holds the Department contract for emergency response in this instance? Will post mortem reviews from recent outbreaks be shared with industry stakeholders to ensure transparency and learnings from the response? What impact will these outbreaks have on our poultry trade in the medium and long term?

I come back to the farmers in the 3 km zone who are not down but who are in that zone because their neighbours are down. They are sitting on their hands, unfortunately, and cannot take in birds. They understand why that is the case and have no problem with that but they have no income at the moment. They need to keep houses warm in the event of getting some flock in. There is a cost attached to that. They cannot live on fresh air. Those people need to be compensated and it is my understanding that a fund was to be set up between the relevant stakeholders, including farmers, producers and the Department, so compensation would already be there in the event of a disease outbreak like this or some other outbreak. Where are we in relation to that fund? These people need to be compensated. We are talking about families at Christmas. It is a very sensitive time. People are under financial pressure, like many of us, but particularly these people. They need to be looked after.