As the Minister is probably aware, an outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in County Carlow. This flock of about 500 birds will have to be euthanised. We need to see adequate compensation packages for farmers affected and biosecurity measures must be stepped up. As a preventative, I am calling for a housing order to be implemented as we know wild birds play a huge role in spreading avian influenza. We saw this recently in Fota Wildlife Park. I call on the Government to introduce an adequate compensation package for businesses like Fota that have had to keep their gates closed and for poultry farmers for loss of earnings. Will the Government put a housing order in place now?
Sentiment score: 0.08