Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he has taken to address the illegal horse meat trade here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3210/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department and Local Authorities operate under EU regulatory requirements which apply in this area in the delivery of official controls in relation to horse identification at marts and other sales venues, in abattoirs and at points of entry to the country. Where forged or tampered passports accompanying horses to slaughter are detected, it is the policy that such animals are destroyed and removed from the food chain.

These requirements are designed to ensure that meat produced in approved slaughter plants is suitable for human consumption. All equines (which include horses, ponies and donkeys) are required to be identified in accordance with EU and national legislation. All equines issued with a passport after I July 2009 must have a corresponding microchip implanted by a veterinarian which is recorded in the passport and creates a link between the passport and the animal.

The passport includes information on any veterinary medicines administered to equines. An equine for slaughter for human consumption must be accompanied to the slaughterhouse by its passport in compliance with current veterinary requirements - this requirement is an essential part of the food-chain information required by food law and the information on the passport determines whether the animal can be slaughtered for human consumption. Under EU legislation, horses treated with certain veterinary medicines such as phenylbutazone, known in the industry as “bute”, are permanently excluded from the human food chain in order to protect public health and the passport of the horse in question is endorsed by the prescribing veterinary practitioner to this effect.

My Department has developed detailed procedures for the slaughter of horses in abattoirs and has communicated these and the checks required both to its staff and the business operators. It has liaised with passport issuing agencies in Ireland and has developed protocols to allow abattoir operators to check the details of passports with these agencies to seek to ensure that they are valid and that only those horses eligible for slaughter are slaughtered.

Ongoing vigilance is maintained in relation to official controls in this area. In that connection, the European Communities (Equine) (Amendment) Regulations, S.I. No. 371/2012, introduced recently, provide for the updating of S.I. No. 357/2011 (European Communities (Equine) Regulations 2011) to strengthen the powers of the Minister in relation to approval of an issuing body for equine passports, authorised officers and prosecutions in relation to equine identification.

The Department is also developing a central database (traceability system) of horses which will involve migration of selected data from passport issuing organisations to the Department. The database will be populated by information provided from the databases maintained by the passport issuing organisations; by the Department from records obtained from sources such as slaughter plants and knackeries; and by Local Authority Veterinary Inspectors in respect of records maintained at appropriate slaughter plants.

The Animal Health and Welfare Bill, which was introduced into the Dail last year, is a very comprehensive piece of legislation on animal health and welfare and will give the Minister and Local Authorities additional powers in relation to the protection of the health and, particularly, the welfare of horses. While my Department does not comment on ongoing investigations, I can advise that during 2012 it revoked the approvals of one organisation to maintain a stud book and issue horse passports; and the approval of one slaughter plant was voluntarily suspended.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures he has taken to address concerns over the use of fake passports in the horse meat trade here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3211/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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EU legislation provides, which came into effect on 1 July 2009, that equine animals registered after that date must be identified with a passport and a microchip. The relevant national legislation is S.I. No. 357 of 2011 - European Communities (Equine) Regulations 2011 (as amended). This legislation provides that if an equine animal has not been identified within six months of the date of its birth, or by the 31^st of December in the year of its birth, whichever date occurs later, then the equine animal cannot be admitted to the food chain. It is an offence under S.I. 357 of 2011 (as amended) Article 24(1) and (2) to forge or tamper with an equine passport.

With regard to the slaughter of horses, an official veterinarian must be present in a meat plant when slaughtering is taking place. All animals are subject to an ante-mortem inspection, which includes an identification check, by an official veterinarian prior to slaughter. The horse passport is examined to confirm the identification of the animal and to check if any medications have been administered that might render the animal unfit for human consumption. If there is evidence that the passport has been tampered with or if the passport is a replacement rather than original passport, the animal will not be allowed go for human consumption. If the animal fails the ante-mortem inspection, it will be slaughtered and the carcase sent for disposal. The animal is not permitted to leave the abattoir alive. If the animal passes the ante-mortem inspection, it is allowed go for slaughter for human consumption. Where forged or tampered passports accompanying horses to slaughter are detected, it is Department policy that such animals are destroyed and removed from the food chain.

My Department has introduced enhancedlegislation andprocedures in relation to the registration of horse premises and the identification and slaughter of horses over the past year or so. With regard to the registration of horse premises, my Department introduced new regulations in January 2012 such that, from May 2012, anyone who is the owner/person in charge of any premises on which horses are kept is required to register the premises with the Department.

On the issue of identification, my Department up-dated national legislation last September in relation to controls on the identification of horses in order to strengthen the powers of the Minister in relation to approval of an issuing body for equine passports, authorised officers and prosecutions in relation to equine identification. Under this legislation, my Department revoked the approval granted to one of the passport issuing agencies (PIOs) to issue passports to non registered equines last year because of its non-compliances with the rules relating to issuing passports.

My Department also introduced enhanced procedures for the slaughter of horses in abattoirs in October 2011 and communicated these and the checks required both to its staff and the business operators. It has liaised with PIOs in Ireland and has developed protocols to allow abattoir operators to check the details of passports with these agencies, which are obliged by regulation to maintain a database, to seek to ensure that they are valid and that only those horses eligible for slaughter are slaughtered.

EU legislation provides that horses treated with certain veterinary medicines (such as phenylbutazone or “bute”) are excluded from the human food chain. In order to verify the effectiveness of the intake procedures at slaughter plants carrying out the slaughtering of horses, my Department decided last year to increase sampling for “bute” from 60 in 2011 to 104 in 2012 and to 160 in 2013. The last positive test for “bute” was in 2010.

My Department is developing a central database of horses which will involve migration of selected data from PIOs to the Department. The database will be populated by information provided from the databases maintained by the PIOs, by the Department from records obtained at slaughter plants and knackeries and by Local Authority Veterinary Inspectors in respect of records maintained at appropriate slaughter plants. The intention is that this database will be used at abattoirs to verify the authenticity of the passport for the equine presented and to record its date of slaughter.

In conclusion, my Department maintains ongoing vigilance in relation to official controls on the identification of horses, including at slaughter, through national and EU legislation. I am satisfied that robust procedures are in place in approved business establishments to ensure that only horses with valid identification are accepted for slaughter.