Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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420. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent of the use of Cypermethrin in Irish agriculture, horticulture, and aquaculture; the number of litres that have been used and the number of years involved [29210/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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'Cypermethrin' is a pyrethroid insecticide discovered in the 1970s and is very similar to the extract of chrysanthemum"pyrethrins". It has been used in agriculture as a plant protection product for decades; however in more recent years usage as a plant protection product has declined to about three to four thousand kilograms of active substance per annum.

It can be used on a wide variety of crops against a range of pests but due to widespread resistance issues, alternative control mechanisms are increasingly being used.

'Cypermethrin' is the active ingredient in 12 veterinary medicines licensed by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), which is designated as the competent authority for the licensing of veterinary medicines. Neither my Department nor HPRA has any information on the extent of usage of such medicines.