John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 947: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her views on the need for an extensive national genotype programme and the non-availability of category 1 and 2 breeding stock; and if her Department will support farmers financially whose incomes have been affected while they try to rebuild their depleted stocks. [1070/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has operated a voluntary national genotype programme since May 2004. At 31 December 2005, almost 43,000 sheep had been genotyped. Between 1 September and 18 November last, a number of financial enhancements were added to the programme and contributed to a significant increase in participation levels.

My Department has had discussions over recent months with farming bodies and pedigree breeders on arrangements for the introduction of a compulsory breeding programme, pursuant to Commission decision 2003/100/EC. I expect that these discussions will conclude shortly and the compulsory programme should be in place soon thereafter.

The principal aims of the programme are to increase the frequency of the ARR allele in the Irish sheep flock while, at the same time, reducing the prevalence of the VRQ alleles which have been shown to contribute to susceptibility to TSEs, leading to their eventual elimination.

The effect of this will be to increase the resistance of the national sheep flock to classical scrapie through the use of genotyping to determine resistance. This is very important in improving the overall health status of the flock and the subsequent reduction in the incidence of scrapie.

The introduction of the forthcoming programme also reflects the increasing emphasis being placed on the quality and safety of fresh meat. It is in the interest of all sheep breeders to anticipate a future demand for sheep of certain genotypes and the compulsory programme will play a long-term and central role in the breeding of animals and the marketing of sheepmeat.

In regard to the non-availability of category 1 and 2 breeding stock, provision is made in the Commission decision for individual breeding programmes to be implemented taking account of the frequency of the different alleles within each breed in order to avoid the danger of inbreeding or genetic drift. The forthcoming compulsory breeding programme will take account of this concern.

Although the Commission decision does not make provision for the payment of compensation to flock owners who are required to slaughter sheep identified as highly susceptible to scrapie, the forthcoming programme will include a compensation dimension in respect of sheep that have to be slaughtered. It is not, however, intended to include an income support element in this programme.