Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps her Department is taking to support owners of animals which were inadvertently infected with swamp fever; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3586/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Since the initial outbreak of Equine Infectious Anaemia, or 'swamp fever', in June 2006, my Department has taken significant steps to contain the outbreak and progress its eradication and to protect the very valuable Irish bloodstock industry.

To date, twenty-eight cases have been confirmed, the most recent on 10 December 2006, over eight weeks ago. This is, by some considerable distance, the longest interval between any two previous cases and, with over 14,000 blood samples having been tested last month, gives increasing confidence that the outbreak has been contained and very significant progress made towards its eradication.

Following confirmation of the first case, my Department put in place a strict control regime aimed at containing and eradicating the disease, which involved the restriction on the movement of horses and an extensive surveillance programme, including all of those horses which were subject to movement restriction.

As well as restrictions on the movements of individual horses from their home premises, the Department placed restrictions on the movement of horses on to or from fifty-three premises, other than under permit. Of the fifty-three premises restrictions, only seven remain in place. In all, over 1200 horses have, at one time or another, been subject to movement restrictions and, at this time, almost ninety per cent of those restrictions have been lifted. Assuming no further cases are confirmed, all movement restrictions should be lifted by mid-March.

My Department did meet recently with representatives of a number of horse owners whose premises were subject to movement restriction to discuss the issue of financial assistance in respect of losses claimed to have been incurred as a consequence of their having been restricted. My officials made clear at that meeting that the Department does not intend to make any such payments and that remains my position.

The Department's principal aim, since the outbreak was confirmed, has been to contain and eradicate the disease and the current situation would indicate that the outbreak has been contained and that we are well on the way to ensuring its eradication. All of the measures taken, including the introduction of appropriate legislation, the imposition of movement restrictions and the introduction of surveillance programmes, were taken to achieve that aim and to protect the industry.

In recognition of the financial burden, associated with the cost of testing restricted horses, I introduced a package of financial measures in August 2006 to support those owners whose horses had been restricted and subject to a surveillance programme of at least ninety days. This included a financial contribution for each visit by a veterinarian to take blood samples as well as the cost of testing those samples. To date, the cost of this package to the Department has been in excess of €100,000. In addition, veterinary inspectors from my own Department have taken several thousand blood samples as part of a specifically targeted surveillance programme in Counties Meath, Dublin and Kildare, a significant proportion of which were subsequently tested at my Department's Central Veterinary Research Laboratory. The entire cost of this phase of the extensive surveillance programme is being met by my Department.

The most practical help that I and my Department can provide to any horse owner in this country is to take such measures as are appropriate to ensure that this outbreak is contained and eradicated. We are determined to do that and, in doing so, it is incumbent on me to express my gratitude to the Irish bloodstock industry, both thoroughbred and non-thoroughbred sectors, for the responsibility they have shown and for the cooperation and assistance that they have given my Department in our shared aim of ridding the country of equine infectious anaemia.