Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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15. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans for banning mink fur farming; and the current population of mink in such farms in Ireland. [27019/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment on the prohibition of fur farming and Department officials have been working on appropriate steps to give effect to this. The Department is finalising the Heads of a Bill to provide for the introduction of a ban on fur farming which will include a prohibition on mink farming.

The Bill will make it illegal for any new fur farms to be established and will provide for the closure of the small number of existing farm operations. The Bill includes a compensation provision to provide compensation that is fair and reasonable to the three farmers concerned.

Regarding mink numbers, in a particular year, the total number of mink on the three farms depends on the stage of production at that point of time in the year. The numbers increase when the breeding females have offspring born. We are currently at the stage when the females have started giving birth. At the end of 2020, there were approximately 110,000 farmed mink in Ireland.