Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she is taking steps to obtain a priority supply of vaccines against bluetongue in view of Ireland's dependence on agriculture; and the discussions that have taken place on an all Ireland basis with a view to an island wide vaccination scheme. [27052/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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There is, currently, no vaccine yet available for the particular strain of the disease (serotype 8) that is present in Britain and across northern Europe. Three pharmaceutical companies are currently involved in the development of an inactivated vaccine. I understand that such a vaccine may become available by the summer of 2008 though, even then, there will be production issues and a huge demand for the vaccine given the cattle and sheep populations of the countries affected to date.

My Department has been in contact with the three companies involved in relation to the timeframe for the availability of a vaccine and the provision of an adequate supply to ensure that we can put in place a comprehensive and effective vaccination programme. The logistical arrangements associated with securing and administering the vaccine are currently being actively considered within my Department. In the absence, to date, of a vaccine, the Deputy will appreciate that it is not possible, at this stage, to predict what the cost of the vaccine or of a comprehensive vaccination programme will be.

Furthermore, my Department is actively involved with the European Commission and the other Member States in relation to the possibility of developing an overall Community-wide vaccination strategy. The Commission has scheduled a bluetongue symposium to be held in Brussels on 16th January 2008 and, in preparation for that, the first in a series of working group meetings took place yesterday, at which my Department was represented.

I have also discussed the current disease situation in continental Europe and in Britain with my colleagues in the European Agriculture Council and have also discussed it, and will again later this week, with Minister Gildernew, in the context of the development and maintenance of an all-island approach. Indeed, at the September Agricultural Council, a number of Ministers called on the Commission to develop a bluetongue control strategy and I strongly support this approach.

Apart from the political contacts, my officials are in regular contact with colleagues in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland in the context of maintaining an all-island approach to the threat posed by the spread of the disease, particularly following the recent outbreaks in Britain.