Leitrim farmers warned of potential dangers of imported animal feed

Farmers in County Leitrim have been warned of the potential dangers of imported animal feed.

Sligo-Leitrim Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny raised the issue during a meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food.

Deputy Kenny expressed concern over the importation of goods in the agricultural and forestry sectors, using a fungus that affects trees as an example.

He said: “Ash dieback first arrived in Leitrim many years ago. We had the outbreak of it and it spread like wildfire throughout the country.

“It came from saplings that were imported from Holland because of a strategy the then government had to get farmers to plant trees.

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“I think it was under one of the farm environmental schemes. Sometimes we come up with strategies to do stuff too quickly and do not think about what the consequences might be.”

He went on to outline his concerns over the importation of animal feed in the agricultural industry.

“I am particularly concerned that we are importing so much of our animal feed from sub-tropical climates.

“We have so much maize and corn gluten coming in to feed our animals. What are the dangers in respect of that?

“Black grass coming in in straw was mentioned earlier. There will be serious consequences if some of these things take hold.

“Rather than importing products that may have a higher risk of disease, should we be moving in the direction of trying to be more self-sufficient?”

In response, Dr. Eoin Ryan, Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer at the Department of Agriculture, said that checks are carried out on all imported goods at EU level.

Dr. Ryan said: “On importation, we operate a stringent import controls policy. Biosecurity is implemented at three points for entry to the European Union.

“First, there are the pre-import checks, where animals and animal products have to be accompanied by a veterinary health certificate certifying that they complied with whatever the specific requirements were for that animal or product of animal origin.

“They are then checked at our border control posts when they come in, which are staffed by Department staff.

“These are official facilities where we do identity checks, physical checks and documentary checks to verify, check and sample these things, which could be animals or products of animal origin, that come in.”

He went on to outline the checks that are carried out on animals after they enter the country.

“For animals, we often carry out post-import testing. Again, it depends on the animal and the context of where it is coming from, but we frequently carry out post-import testing.

“There is a movement restriction after animals arrive into the European Union, which in our case is Ireland. There are checks in place.

“We also have a fairly comprehensive infrastructure in place at Rosslare, Dublin Port and places like that, and border control posts at the airport.”

At the same meeting, Senator Victor Boyhan expressed concern over a potential outbreak of disease among trees in Leitrim.

Senator Boyhan said: “It is crucial we revise our strategies to mitigate the potential impact of the bark beetle across our entire forestry value chain and estate.

“It is a massive industry. We know that over 48 per cent is Sitka spruce and spruce of varying degrees in forestry.

“I was in Leitrim the other day. When you think of the potential outbreak for that county alone, it is enormous.”

The independent Dublin-based senator added that there is not enough diversity in the forestry industry in Ireland.

The pair were speaking during a discussion on biodiversity, to which a number of Department of Agriculture officials made contributions.