P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his views on the health status of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry here; if he has quantified the losses to agriculture arising from the implications of non-regulated disease conditions on farms here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5043/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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In general, Ireland's national herd covering all farm species meets very high health standards and very good progress has been made in recent years in dealing with regulated diseases such as BSE and Brucellosis. However, less progress has been made in relation to non- regulated diseases. While the losses to agriculture arising from these latter diseases vary from farm to farm and are not easily quantifiable, it is accepted that less than optimal animal health leads to inefficiencies in production resulting in reduced quantity and poorer quality of farm output, thus reducing the competitive position of individual farmers, their incomes and the agri-food industry generally.

My Department has been actively progressing an initiative to further improve the health of the national herd and flock for many years and this was given added impetus by the inclusion in the Programme for Government of a commitment to introduce a herd health initiative to deal with non-regulated diseases. To advance these objectives, I recently launched Animal Health Ireland which aims to improve overall animal health standards, thereby enhancing on-farm productivity and securing improved profitability for farmers through a coordinated national approach to animal health.

The main priority of Animal Health Ireland will be to identify and prioritise non-regulated disease conditions that impact negatively from both a financial and disease perspective on Irish livestock, excluding those already covered by regulation. It will be managed by a Steering Group that will act as the Board of the organisation. I recently appointed Mr Mike Magan as chairman of the interim Steering Group whose other members comprise individuals with skills and competencies such as livestock farming, veterinary science, agricultural economics and international marketing. The Steering Group will report to a Stakeholders Group which will be representative of farming bodies, dairy co-ops and service providers and will have overall responsibility for the strategic direction, structure and financing of the organisation. The organisation will have a small number of Executive staff who will be responsible for implementing agreed strategies and I have assigned a number of executive staff to the new organisation for an interim period. Future arrangements for the Steering Group, staffing and organisation of the body, will be a matter for the industry.