Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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790. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of compulsory testing in respect of sheep (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13133/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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EU Member States are required, under the TSE Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001, to carry out an annual programme for monitoring BSE and scrapie, which is designed to assist in protecting human and animal health. The principal requirements of this programme for Ireland each year, insofar as scrapie is concerned, are to take samples and test for the presence of scrapie in 10,000 sheep over 18 months of age which die on farms (fallen sheep) and 10,000 sheep over 18 months of age which are slaughtered for human consumption. The samples must be taken in a manner that is representative of region and season. It is also a requirement that Ireland target its sheep sampling programme so that, over successive years, samples are submitted from all flocks having more than 100 breeding animals. This reflects a known higher incidence of scrapie in flocks with larger numbers of sheep.

The total number of positive scrapie cases since 2003 is 190, with a peak of 37 cases in 2006. There were 8 cases in 2015 and one case to date in 2016.

The direct cost to my Department for scrapie testing in 2015 was €0.164m. There is no additional cost to farmers with flocks with more than 100 breeding animals beyond the cost which would arise in any event of the collection and disposal of fallen animals.