Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will confirm that exotic birds were illegally imported into this country on Good Friday; when her Department became aware of the possible illegal importation; if her Department is aware of any other import of such birds; the steps she is taking to trace the birds in question; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15830/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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A consignment of hobby birds was imported on Friday 14 April through Rosslare Port to a registered importer. The consignment in question originated in another member state and, as such, was not subject to any EU ban, though such importations are subject to spot checks.

Consignments of this nature must comply with the requirements of a general authorisation issued under the European Communities (Diseases of Animals Acts, 1966 and 1979 Orders) (General Authorisations for Imports) Regulations 1985, the conditions attaching to which require that the hobby birds must come from a holding which has been registered by the competent authority in accordance with Article 4 of Council Directive 92/65/EEC; come from a holding in which avian influenza has not been diagnosed in the 30 days preceding the dispatch; come from a holding and an area not subject to restrictions under Council Directive 92/66/EEC introducing Community measures for the control of Newcastle disease; be accompanied by a declaration completed and signed by the owner of the hobby birds; and in the case of psittacidae, be accompanied by a certificate signed by an official veterinarian of the country of export.

In addition to these requirements, all but one of which were met, advance notice is required to be given to my Department not less than 24 hours prior to the intended date of importation and, under animal disease control measures, an official notification of the consignment, TRACES, is dispatched from the district veterinary office of the country of origin to the district veterinary office of the country of destination.

In this particular case the consignment was not accompanied by the owner's declaration and my Department was not given the advance notice of the importation by the importer, though the TRACES message was despatched by the competent authorities in the exporting country on 13 April.

Limited anonymous information about the importation was received by my Department on Thursday, 13 April and this information was passed to my Department's office at Rosslare. Similar anonymous information was received by the Customs and Excise service and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. In all three cases the information provided was insufficient to identify the consignment on importation and, contrary to subsequent newspaper reports, my Department's officials did not have "detailed knowledge" of the importation.

It is the case that the absence of the owner's declaration and the failure to provide advance notice of the importation represented a breach of the requirements, a fact since acknowledged by the importer who has undertaken to provide such notice in respect of all future importations. Officials of my Department met the importer at his premises on 24 April 2006. All of the documentation associated with this particular consignment was in order. The official documentation, including the health certificate, signed by an official veterinarian in the member state, and the details provided in the official notification issued by the competent authority in the exporting member state, provided by the importer was consistent with the birds present on the importer's premises.

There is no evidence to support suggestions that some birds in the consignment had died in transit or that any bird carcases were subsequently illegally disposed of. The importer has been the subject of previous inspections by my Department, as are other registered importers, and on all previous occasions his importations have been found to be legal and all importation requirements to have been complied with.

In the context of avian influenza, my Department has introduced a robust range of precautionary measures and fully implements all EU controls, including those relating to the importation of exotic birds. It should be noted that imports of pet birds from within the EU represent a low risk to Ireland's health status; the avian flu virus is more prevalent in wild birds whose entry cannot be controlled.