Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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113. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a tender has issued for the provision of cattle tags in the past few weeks; if it has not, when it is planned to issue such a tender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39707/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Request for Tenders for the provision of Bovine Animal Identification Tags and Birth Registration Documents that was published on 29 May 2012 indicated that the term of the contract would be for 2 years with the option to extend the contract on the same terms and conditions, for two periods of 12 months. The initial term of the contract with the approved tenderer covered the period 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2014. My Department has recently exercised the option to extend this contract for a further 12 month period to 31 October 2015 and if considered appropriate for a further 1 year period following this date. As the Deputy will be aware, I have provided for a 6 year Beef Data and Genomic Programme in the draft Rural Development Programme (RDP) submitted to the EU Commission on 3rd July. The proposed Beef Data and Genomics Programme is intended to deliver an accelerated improvement in the quality and environmental sustainability of the beef herd through the application of genomics technology. As part of the delivery of this measure, it is currently envisaged that the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation will publish a Request for Tenders for the provision of tags before the end of 2014. These tags will be used for the collection of a DNA sample, from animals selected under the measure, for the purposes of genotyping.

The draft RDP is currently the subject of discussion with the European Commission whose agreement is required before the scheme and the RDP can come into force.