Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 158: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will ensure that precautions are taken for high risk cargo such as horses straw, compost and plants at all points of entry under the new controls announced relating to bluetongue restricted zones. [19627/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has been and remains bluetongue-free and the presence of the disease in a number of other Member States has not had any significant impact on Irish agriculture to date. It continues to be my objective to ensure that Ireland remains disease free and that we make every effort and take all such reasonable precautions to that end.

My Department has carried out a number of assessments to seek to determine the risk of the possible introduction of the disease into the country. The first of these was undertaken and published in November and the analysis considered a number of possible routes of introduction of bluetongue. These ranged from the possible importation of infected ruminants and wind-borne infected vectors, which were classified as representing high risk routes of introduction, to the potential risk associated with the accidental importation of infected midges travelling on horses, in vehicles / containers or with agricultural / horticultural products such as hay, straw or plants. These latter alternative routes were classified in the risk assessment as representing a low risk route of introduction of the virus and the analysis concluded that no further control measures or mitigation procedures were required or warranted at that time.

That risk assessment was by its nature based on an assessment of the disease situation and the controls in place at a particular period in time and is, therefore, subject to revision should there be a significant change in that disease situation. Due to changes in animal movement regulations that were introduced in response to new scientific data on how the virus can be transmitted in animals and pressure from Ireland, a further risk analysis was carried out by my Department earlier this month. This risk analysis concluded that there have been no new developments since the November study in scientific knowledge on the accidental introduction of infected vectors by other means such as carriage on wind current, in vehicles, containers, on plants, on non-susceptible species (horses, pets, people) or in hay and straw. Consequently, the risk from these possible sources remains as outlined in the November assessment. Further information on bluetongue is available on my Department's website.