Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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722. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department carries out independent conflict-of-interest risk assessments, separate from SLA declarations, as required by Article 8(4)(b), before approving organisations (details supplied) as third-party operators; and to provide copies of such assessments since 2021. [65525/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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723. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason his Department relies solely on SLA declarations of no conflict between a breed society and a third party, when Article 8(4)(b) requires the competent authority to assess potential conflicts between the third party (details supplied) and the economic activities of breeders themselves. [65526/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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724. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the monitoring, audit or review procedures have been conducted since 2021 to ensure organisations (details supplied) remain compliant with Article 8(4)(b). [65527/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 722, 723 and 724 together.

Article 8 (4) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 provides for an arrangement where a breed society may avail of the option to outsource specific technical activities to a third party as part of their breeding programme. Where a breed society avails of this option, they must specify in their breeding programme those outsourced activities and the name and contact details of the third party service providers. As part of the official control process and with regard to Article 8 (4) (b) the breed society submits a signed 'Service Level Agreement' (SLA) between the third party and the breed society to my Department. The SLA includes a declaration from both parties confirming that there is no conflict of interest between the third party and the Society.

It is the responsibility of the breed society and the third party to identify, mitigate and manage any identified or perceived conflicts of interest when entering into such an agreement. It is up to both parties to manage this process and my Department does not carry out a separate assessment.

I can confirm that since 2018, the relevant section of the SLA for all recognised breed societies have been examined for compliance with Article 8(4)(b).