Written answers

Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Livestock Issues

Photo of Pádraig O'SullivanPádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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2520. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the owner or operator of a livestock mart is required to maintain a record of the livestock that enter, leave, are kept at, sold or supplied through the livestock mart; the way in which this applies to person to person sales outside of a mart setting under the Animal Health and Welfare (Livestock Marts) Regulations 2018; the way his Department ensures that the details are logged and regulations complied with; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19726/21]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Under Section 4 of the Animal Health and Welfare (Livestock Marts) Regulations 2018, the owner or operator of a livestock mart is required to keep records regarding livestock that enter, leave, are kept at, sold or supplied through the livestock mart, for at least three years. These records must be made available on request to an authorised officer.

In relation to notifications by livestock marts to the Department’s Animal Identification and Movement System (AIM), in accordance with legislative requirements, the mart operator is required to notify AIM of the movement of all animals to and from the premises within 7 days of the event.

In 2020, with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic a new facility was provided on the AIM system that permitted livestock marts to trade in animals without the requirement that they are physically present in the mart premises. This facility allows marts to broker sales between buyers and sellers without the animals having to travel to the mart premises. In such circumstances the mart can report the movement of the animal(s) to AIM from the source to the new destination herd without the requirement on the farmer to apply for a certificate of compliance in the case of cattle movements.

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