Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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677. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to make the currently voluntary contributions which farmers can opt to pay to the ICBF when ordering tags compulsory; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17886/17]

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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678. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to make the suppliers of cattle tags to farmers pay a compulsory contribution or fee to the ICBF on tags sold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17887/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 677 and 678 together.

The ICBF was established in 1998 following a number of years of industry consultation among all stakeholders in the cattle breeding industry.

ICBF is the only body approved under EU legislation (Commission Decision 2006/427/EC) to carry out testing, genetic evaluation and publication of breeding values for Irish dairy and beef cattle.

The objective of the ICBF is to achieve the greatest possible genetic improvement in the national cattle herd for the benefit of Irish farmers and the national dairy and beef industries. The organisation delivers a public good in the area of cattle breed improvement which is the foundation of a profitable and sustainable dairy and beef herd. It is a ‘farmer led’ body receiving its funding from a number of sources including farmers, the breeding industry and with state support. A critical funding source has been the tag levy. However a significant drop in levy collection has arisen leading to major uncertainty in this source of funding. Solutions to the financial issues are being explored by ICBF with industry stakeholders and DAFM and with discussions on-going.