Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 733: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will extend the 30 months BSE testing time to 36 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10288/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The requirement that all bovine animals over 30 months of age, slaughtered for human consumption, must be tested for BSE is provided for in Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council, laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (The TSE Regulation). Accordingly I do not have the discretion to raise this age threshold as I would wish to do in view of the major progress achieved here in relation to BSE.

I have been making repeated efforts to have the age thresholds for the various categories of animals changed, based on the results of surveillance carried out here. Under the recently amended TSE regulation there is provision for a revision to Member States' monitoring programmes (including changes to the age at which healthy slaughtered animals for human consumption must be tested for BSE) on the basis of applications by Member States in response to their improved BSE situation. Such applications will have to be assessed according to criteria for evaluating the improvement of the epidemiological situation that have yet to be laid down. The matter is currently under discussion at TSE working group level in Brussels and will take some time to finalise.

Any request for such changes would require to be approved by the European Commission and the other Member States within the framework of the Standing Committee on Animal Health and the Food Chain. I will, of course continue to press for a change in the age threshold at every opportunity.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 734: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her plans to extend the 30-day brucellosis testing time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10289/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The 30-day pre-movement test was introduced in 1998 to curtail the spread of Brucellosis following an upsurge in the disease. A range of other measures was also introduced in the late 1990s with the same objective. These included the early removal of reactors, the rapid depopulation of herds, the taking of blood samples from cows at slaughter plants, the Milk Ring Test (MRT) (subsequently replaced by the Milk ELISA test), and the lime treatment of slurry on infected farms on all Brucellosis depopulated farms.

The veterinary advice at the time, which continues to apply, was that the movement/buying-in of cattle was a major contributory factor in the spread of the disease and the 30 day test has contributed significantly to the effort in reducing the incidence of the disease, particularly in that it reduces the movement of brucellosis susceptible animals.

The impact of these measures has been very positive and very substantial progress has been made since 1998 in reducing disease levels. While there has been a significant reduction in the incidence of Brucellosis, we cannot become complacent about this highly contagious disease and the essential elements of the programme must be retained for the time being. Otherwise, we run the risk of losing the progress made in recent years. I am however keeping the various control measures under review taking account of the current low disease levels and the risks involved.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 735: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her plans to extend the 12-month TB testing time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10290/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the EU Directive 64/432/EEC, which sets down the rules for trade in live animals, the testing requirements for TB in the case of Member States which have disease levels similar to Ireland are that all animals over 6 weeks of age being moved out of a holding or other land must be from a clear herd and must have a valid TB test which, in general, means that the animal has been tested during the 12 months immediately preceding the date of movement. There are no proposals at EU level to change these rules.

The 12 month testing regime forms part of our overall national strategy for the eradication of TB, which provides for a comprehensive range of measures, including the early removal of reactors, a wildlife programme involving the targeted removal of badgers where they are implicated in a TB outbreak, the use of the gamma Interferon test in problem herds as an adjunct to the tuberculin test and the depopulation of infected herds where the level or duration of infection indicates that this is necessary to clear the herd and/or protect the neighbourhood.