Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 450: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will report on the work of the North-South unit in her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34216/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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There has been excellent ongoing co-operation between the officials of my Department and the officials of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland in a number of areas.

The development of an all-island animal health and welfare strategy which would facilitate free movement of animals on the island, subject to EU rules is given substantial consideration in this context. The main achievements to date in this area are the development of a co-ordinated and complementary approach towards import policies and portal controls at points of entry to the island, the convergence of policies in regard to scrapie and the strengthening of co-ordination and co-operation between both Administrations on a variety of issues such as foot and mouth disease, BSE and cross-Border fraud.

Both Departments have been developing protocols on crop variety testing for herbages, cereals and maize and in this capacity have sown preliminary trials in both jurisdictions. In the longer term they are working to agree common control varieties and to standardise protocols and the parameters measured. In the area of genetically modified crops with conventional crops and organic farming, my Department has established an inter-agency interdepartmental working group, to discuss co-existence in a cross-Border context.

Officials from the agencies, North and South, continue to examine emerging changes to the various rules of the Common Agriculture Policy and work together to develop appropriate strategies for dealing with these following the mid-term review agreement, particularly in relation to cross-compliance requirements. More recently senior officials, including veterinary and scientific experts for both Departments, met to discuss their respective approaches to the threat of avian influenza. A meeting was also held between officials to discuss common areas of concern relating to the impending legislation on food hygiene which come into effect on 1 January 2006. When the Northern Ireland strategy for the organic farming industry has been finalised, my Department will commence discussions on mutual areas of interest in this sector. My Department will continue to work with northern colleagues on the issue of food labelling, particularly at EU level. The main areas being considered are common specifications; traceability of foodstuffs, especially meat products; and a standard, common coding system.

There is also co-operation on the issue of certification of pigmeat for the Russian market, salmonella control programmes in pigs and salmonella and campylobacter programmes in poultry. My Department will seek to develop co-operation between the pigmeat inspectorate and poultry meat and egg marketing inspectors, North and South. We also are hoping to broaden the scope of co-operation in the forestry area.

My Department has recently initiated co-operation in the area of animal by-products. This co-operation could be included in the overall all-island animal health strategy referred to above. The Department also intends to approach the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland with a view to putting informal co-operation on horse registration on a more concrete basis.