Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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539. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total number of live cattle imported into Ireland since 1 January 2016, and from what countries; the equivalent figures for 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14424/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Between 1 January 2015 and 3 June 2016, my Department’s data show that a total of 7,768 cattle have been imported into this state. By way of comparison on the basis of available figures from 2015, imports into Ireland at the end of April 2016 were 6,013 compared to 5,723 in 2015. The vast majority of these have been sourced from Britain and Northern Ireland, with smaller numbers coming from Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Austria. The majority of these cattle were female animals who went for immediate slaughter.

Yearly total figures for 2015 show that 17,431 cattle were imported, with Britain and Northern Ireland again accounting for the overwhelming majority of these. The total number of cattle in the national herd on 31 December 2015, was 6.32 million head, showing that for the year 2015 the number of cattle imported into Ireland, represented as a proportion of the total number of cattle in Ireland at the end of 2015, was less than 0.3%.

All cattle imported into Ireland are required to be properly registered on my Department’s Animal Identification and Movement system (AIM) and accompanied by its passport in addition to complying with all relevant regulations regarding the importation of live animals. AIM provides all processing plants with the animal’s date of birth, sex, breed, movement history and TB test records.