Question 106: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress being made to implement the commitment in the programme for Government to introduce a herd health initiative to deal with non-regulated diseases and conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20319/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Significant progress has been made regarding this initiative since the beginning of the year. Animal Health Ireland is now a legal entity with its own Board of Directors, having recently been incorporated as a company limited by guarantee. A specialist recruitment company has been engaged by Animal Health Ireland to proceed with the recruitment of a Chief Executive Officer for the organization a process that is now underway.

Animal Health Ireland hosted a very well attended information seminar for its stakeholders on the 6th March 2009, at which issues such as the current situation regarding non-regulatory diseases in Ireland and in competitor countries were considered and a realistic assessment of the scale of the challenges ahead was made. Similar seminars focusing on those individual diseases and conditions that come to be prioritised for action are planned for the future. The Animal Health Ireland website, which will go live within the coming days, will facilitate the communication process.

The Chairman and others associated with Animal Health Ireland have conducted a wide-ranging consultation with a large cross-section of stakeholders in recent weeks. Work is underway to identify and prioritise a definitive ranking of disease priorities to be addressed by Animal Health Ireland. An extensive survey of expert opinion is due to be completed by the mid- June. In addition to the expert opinion, the opinion of farmers has been sought through a survey and the deliberations of Farmer Focus Groups established by Animal Health Ireland. Technical Working Groups will be created to establish nationally-agreed protocols for the prioritised diseases.

I understand that the feedback from the stakeholder group to this initiative has been very positive and this is confirmed by their willingness to commit funds to Animal Health Ireland. I believe Animal Health Ireland provides a unique opportunity to develop an improved understanding of current practices and future trends in international best practice in the area of herd health it affords those organisations - including farmers, producers, processors, and support/advisory service – actively participating in the project to build on the significant resources, informational infrastructure, capabilities and expertise already available within the range of organisations it also offers an opportunity to develop a national strategy to take appropriate action in the area of non-regulatory animal health which in effect will allow industry to a large extent shape its own future.