Written answers

Wednesday, 29 March 2006

Department of Agriculture and Food

Animal Welfare

11:00 pm

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the action her Department takes to ensure Irish entities conform to European standards on enforceability, animal health and welfare and consumer protection; the amount which is spent each year ensuring such compliance; the number of people who are engaged in investigating degrees of compliance with EU law in these areas; the deficiencies she is aware of in the compliance rates with such standards; and the deficiencies she is aware of in the manner of Ireland's enforcement of such EU laws. [12229/06]

Photo of Mary CoughlanMary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to the controls enforced by my Department in relation to the wide range of animal health and welfare legislation for which my Department has responsibility and for which it is the competent authority in this country and to our involvement in food safety legislation in conjunction with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. About half of the Department's total staff are engaged directly or indirectly in the regulatory work in these areas. This involves staff costs of approximately €100 million and €35 million in ancillary costs.

The staff involved include administrative, veterinary and technical staff in the various headquarter locations of the Department as well as throughout all of the Department's local offices and in many other locations in which my Department maintains a presence, for example, slaughter plants, Border inspection posts and laboratories. Those working in the local offices are also involved to a very significant degree at farm-level, an essential component of the work.

I am satisfied that the staff of my Department who are involved in these areas of work ensure a very high level of compliance with the various requirements provided for in the legislation and this is regularly borne out by the results of the various missions undertaken by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission which for the most part reflect very favourably on my Department's performance. In any circumstances in which shortcomings are identified, they are immediately addressed and remedial measures implemented as a matter of urgency.

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