Written answers
Wednesday, 2 March 2005
Department of Agriculture and Food
Purchase for Destruction Scheme
9:00 pm
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 186: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of cows and dry stock at present; the extent to which these numbers were affected by the beef destruct scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7240/05]
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is set out in tabular form below. The purchase for destruction scheme, PFD, ran from January to June 2001 and removed 278,000 animals of which 87,217 or 31% were cows. The PFD was followed closely by the special purchase scheme, SPS, which ran from June 2001 to March 2002. A total of 215,650 cows were slaughtered in Ireland under the SPS, representing 92% of the animals removed under this scheme.
| Year | National Cattle Herd | Cow Herd | Dry Stock National Herd | PFD Scheme Cows slaughtered | SPS Scheme Cows slaughtered | Cows slaughtered Annually |
| 2001 | 6.408 m | 2.308 m | 4.10 m | 87,217 | 195,650 | 366,000 |
| 2002 | 6.332 m | 2.279 m | 4.05 m | — | 20,000 | 322,000 |
| 2003 | 6.223 m | 2.279 m | 3.94 m | — | — | 335,000 |
The number of cows slaughtered during the years of operation of these two schemes is in line with the overall level of cow slaughterings for previous and subsequent years, demonstrating that there has been no adverse effect on the composition of the national herd.
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