Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 143: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of veterinary inspectors in her Department's special investigation units; the inspection levels carried out by this unit over recent years; and her plans to provide extra resources to this unit in view of the concern over the amount of undetected illegal substances being used on animals here. [5762/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) was established in the late 1980s to deal with serious problems relating to use of illegal substances (hormones, angel dust etc.) in animal production. Over the intervening years, the remit of the Unit has been expanded to assist in the implementation of various schemes and in particular to investigate breaches of legislation governing animal disease control, identification and smuggling, animal medication, etc.

Staffing in the Unit has expanded over the years to reflect its extended role and its dedicated staffing currently stands at 14. In addition, there are 13 staff in the Unit who deal with identification and traceability aspects and, where necessary, the Unit can be expanded by resources from other areas of the Department, including District Veterinary Offices. I am satisfied that the staffing levels available are adequate and I do not propose to assign extra resources to the Unit at this time.

The work of the Unit involves regular inspections, monitoring, investigations and follow up work including preparation of cases for prosecutions and attendance at court. Following are details of the number of formal investigations initiated by the Unit over the past 3 years:

With regard to illegal substances, extensive monitoring carried out by my Department on farms and at slaughtering plants indicates strongly that use of such substances is a not a current feature of Irish farming as evidenced by the absence of any confirmed positives out of over 21,000 samples tested for such substances over the last 3 years. This positive situation is due in no small way to the consistent work of the SIU since its inception, whose investigations led to 250 persons being convicted of various offences under animal remedies legislation since 1996, resulting in 72 persons receiving custodial sentences and fines of c. €950,000 being imposed.

While the reducing trend of prosecutions in more recent years also reflects a greater culture of compliance resulting from enforcement activity in earlier years, my Department continues to be extremely vigilant in this area. I might also state that my Department works closely with other national agencies, such as the Garda Síochána and Customs, as well as with equivalent agencies elsewhere in the EU, as part of its monitoring of this area. In addition, the laboratory services at the disposal of my Department work within a coordinated structure at EU level to ensure that analytical capability is kept up to date with ongoing developments.