Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

263. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of piglets that had their teeth clipped or grinded in each of the years 2017 to 2019; the percentage of the overall piglet numbers these represent; and the reason given by producers for carrying out the procedure. [27410/20]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

264. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of pigs that had their tail docked in each of the years 2017 to 2019; the percentage of the overall piglet numbers these represent; and the reason given by producers for carrying out the procedure. [27411/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 263 and 264 together.

Specific EU and national legislation is in place that sets out the minimum animal welfare standards for pigs kept for breeding or fattening. The legislation prohibits routine clipping or grinding of the corner teeth of piglets and routine docking of pig’s tails. However, these procedures are allowed where it has been shown that injury has occurred to either sow’s teats or the tails of other pigs, provided other measures have been taken to prevent tail biting and in the case of teeth clipping/grinding the procedure is carried out within the first 7 days of the piglet's life.

My Department does not have specific data on the number of piglets that have had their teeth clipped/grinded or their tails docked in the years mentioned. However in the coming weeks, the ante mortem aspect of the Department’s computerised pig meat inspection system (“Pig AMPM”) will become operational. In addition to other ante-mortem inspection criteria, the system will record the percentage of pigs that are tail docked for every batch of pigs sent to slaughter. This means that more accurate data on the occurrence of tail docking in Irish pig herds will be available in the future.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

265. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of the different antibiotics administered to pigs in the pig industry in each of the years 2017 to 2019; the level of antibiotic used in the pig industry; the measures being put in place by his Department to reduce the use of antibiotics in the industry; and the research carried out by his Department on the long-term effects on the human population of antibiotic use in pigs. [27412/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A new National Pig Antimicrobial Usage Database has been introduced in November 2019 to record the usage of antibiotics in commercial Irish pig herds. Prior to this, the sales data of antimicrobials for use in pigs has been included in the annual report published by the Health Products Regulatory Authority. This sales data is at a national level, and it is not possible to directly extrapolate figures for the pig industry.

The Pig AMU database is designed to collect farm level data on a quarterly basis, feed back reports to farmers to inform them of their level of antimicrobial use, and allow farmers to benchmark themselves against their peers.  Data received by the AMU database for pigs so far indicates that the most widely used antibiotics in pigs are the older classes of antibiotics,  with much lower amounts of other antibiotics regarded as Highest Priority Critically Important antibiotics for human health being used.

At this point in time, antibiotic use data has been received from 121 herds of interest out of approximately 350 who are required to submit data. The data received so far is encouraging in that it demonstrates a relatively low level of antibiotic use in many herds with a national average of 96mg/kg for 2019.This figure is likely to change as we receive more data but it does highlight the value in having a figure for the level of antibiotic use in Irish pigs.

Measuring antimicrobial use is a pivotal part of the national effort to reduce overall use, and promote responsible use where necessary. Quantifying antimicrobial usage also allows us to measure the impact of the reduction strategies being implemented, demonstrate national trends, inform policy decisions, and enhance best practice. Development of this Pig AMU database is part of a range of measures that have been commenced and implemented as part of Ireland's National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance 2017-2020 (iNAP) Animal Health Sector Implementation Committee action plan. My Department together with the Department of Health launched Irelands first  ‘One Health’ national action plan, iNAP,  to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance in human health, animal health and the environment. The launch of the iNAP Animal Health Implementation Committee in January 2018 has played a pivotal role in facilitating multidisciplinary collaborative efforts across key stakeholders in the animal health sector to tackle AMR.

Currently, there are 54 actions in the implementation plan for the animal health and environment sector. Actions or measures that have been taken to reduce the use of antibiotics in the pig sector include raising knowledge and awareness of AMR amongst pig farmers, farm advisors and veterinary practitioners through conferences, discussion groups , online campaigns, articles in print media. A set of guidelines on the responsible use of antibiotics in the pig industry were developed collaboratively by the IFA, Veterinary Ireland and Teagasc under the stewardship of the Animal and Plant Health Association, these guidelines provide practical tools and strategies for pig farmers to reduce the use of antibiotics. There is national surveillance of AMR in zoonotic and commensal bacteria in pigs carried out in accordance with EU legislation and the findings of this surveillance are shared with industry in order to drive behavioural change around the use of antibiotics.

New EU Regulations which will apply from January 2022 will aim to reduce the amount of antibiotics being used in all sectors of agriculture in the context of the global fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to protect human health. A research project funded by DAFM and carried out by Teagasc (AMURAP) covered one third of the Irish sow population and quantified the level of antimicrobial usage (AMU) in the pig  industry between 2016-2018 and is currently looking at the levels of AMR present on those farms monitored in the study to try and correlate AMU to AMR. A previous research project, PathSurvPig looked the incidence of respiratory disease on pig farms and what interventions are necessary to improve overall animal health and thereby reduce the need to use antibiotics. The findings of this project were shared directly with pig farmers and the farms involved in this research had very significant reductions in antibiotic use. One of the farmers participating in the research project won an award at EU level, and was highlighted as an example of best practice. My department continues to fund research that focuses on disease prevention and other ways of reducing the overall usage of antibiotics in the pig sector as we continue to adopt a One Health approach. The overall goal of iNAP is to reduce the use of antibiotics in both the human and animal health sectors and thereby address the public health threat of AMR.

A previous research project, PathSurvPig looked the incidence of respiratory disease on pig farms and what interventions are necessary to improve overall animal health and thereby reduce the need to use antibiotics. The findings of this project were shared directly with pig farmers and the farms involved in this research had very significant reductions in antibiotic use. One of the farmers participating in the research project won an award at EU level, and was highlighted as an example of best practice. My department continues to fund research that focuses on disease prevention and other ways of reducing the overall usage of antibiotics in the pig sector as we continue to adopt a One Health approach. The overall goal of iNAP is to reduce the use of antibiotics in both the human and animal health sectors and thereby address the public health threat of AMR.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

266. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of pigs that have been exported live to date in 2020; the age of the majority of pigs, that is, over 75%, that were exported live; the countries to which they were exported; the number by each country; and the reason pigs are being exported live. [27413/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Figures taken from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES), which is the EU-wide online management tool for all sanitary requirements on intra-EU trade and importation of animals, semen and embryo, food, feed and plants, show that as of mid-September, Ireland has exported a total of just over 370,000 live pigs. The overwhelming majority of these have gone to Northern Ireland, with small numbers also having been exported to Britain, Spain and Italy.  In each case, the vast majority of these pigs were exported for the purposes of slaughter, with smaller numbers designated as being for the purposes of production or breeding, as detailed in the following table.

TRACES does not provide a breakdown by age of livestock at the time of export.