Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 475: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if recent changes to TB testing mean that animals that are going for slaughter need not be tested within a 12 month period; if there are any exceptions to this rule; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25682/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I recently introduced changes to the TB testing rules for cattle going direct to slaughter. Previously, where animals that had not been tested within the previous 12 months were presented for slaughter, they were returned to the holding which was then usually restricted. As a result of the revised arrangement, such cattle will now be accepted by slaughter plants.

However, I must emphasise that allowing the animals not tested within the previous 12 months to be accepted for slaughter does not mean that there has been a change to the requirement that each herd, comprising all the animals therein, must be tested within each 12 month period. Therefore, in order to ensure that herdowners comply with the annual testing requirements and to protect herds which trade with keepers that have allowed animals to go out of test, my decision to permit out of test animals to be slaughtered also provided for measures to be taken by the District Veterinary Offices in respect of the herds which send out of test cattle to slaughter. These measures include trade restriction, where appropriate, depending on the proportion of the herd that is out of test, whether the herd itself has been tested within the previous 12 months and the length of time an animal is out of test in a herd.

With regard to exceptions to the new arrangements, there may be instances where a District Veterinary Office refuses permission to a herdkeeper to send out of test animals to slaughter. An example of this would be where a holding is restricted for both inward and outward movement, including to slaughter, where the herdkeeper has refused to test his herd within 12 months. Sending out of test animals to slaughter without Department permission in such instances would constitute a breach of the TB legislation and could result in prosecution.