This article is from page 34 of the 2008-03-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 34 JPG
EU laws governing the control of bluetongue has come in for stick this week from Clare farmer and Chair- person of ICMSA’s Beef and Cattle Committee, Martin McMahon.
“If bluetongue arrives in Ireland it will not only lead to considerable movement restrictions, but also lead to livestock mortality, poor animal health and performance, as well as imposing considerable additional costs on farmers with the negative impact on farm incomes that comes from that,’ said Mr McMahon.
‘The starting point in our efforts to control the threat of bluetongue must be to ensure that EU rules at least do
not hinder Ireland’s ability to keep the disease out. And ICMSA’s view is that the current rules are unfortu- nately more of a hindrance to our ef- forts than they are a help.
“For example, under the existing rules, if a vaccination programme is introduced, then zones have to be es- tablished and movement restrictions put in place. In addition, Ireland’s trading status for live exports would ost ahem
He continued, “It is absolutely ab- surd that we would face extra restric- tions because we vaccinate to try and prevent the disease. What kind of logic has you disadvantaged for trying to prevent a disease?
“It is ICMSA’s firm view that we
need to strengthen our defences against bluetongue in the whole of Ireland. In this context, preventative vaccination for bluetongue should be considered as soon as the vaccine be- comes available. And we should be able to carry through this preventive measure without being disadvan- taged by the EU.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Agri- culture, Mary Coughlan, last week noted that a draft proposals from the EU Commission in relation to blue- tongue has been compiled.
The Minister said that she and her officials had been pressing the Com- mission to make every effort to en- sure that those countries that are free of bluetongue remain disease-free
and the latest proposals from the Commission should be seen in this context.
“Following the introduction of im- port control measures last month, which suspended the importation of certain cattle and sheep from blue- tongue-restricted zones, I had again asked the Commission to consider revising the conditions under which live animals may be exported from bluetongue-restricted zones in the light of the then emerging informa- tion,” she said.
The new proposals will be dis- cussed at a meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) in Brus- sels on March 31.