We are all somewhat at a loss as to how we got into this situation. We now have bluetongue both north and south of the Border. We have a major difficulty with animals moving up and down across the Border. That is a very difficult problem, particularly in my part of the world where an awful lot of the marts are experiencing a huge loss in trade because of it. Bluetongue is obviously a virus that is mainly a summer problem in respect of its spread because the virus does not live in the little midges that spread it when the temperature is below 12°C. Of course, in the winter months that is not an issue. However, the cases that have been found in County Wexford likely became infected by midges that came across at the end of last summer or early autumn. It is probable that they were infected then, but it was not picked up or noticed until the animals went to slaughter. That is another issue with this, which makes it very difficult for farmers. We encourage them to be vigilant and to try to take all the precautions possible but if animals, particularly bovines, are not showing any symptoms, it is very difficult for anyone to be vigilant. That is one of the key problems we have here. I mentioned to the Minister before that we need to do more random testing to try to see if any other areas are affected. Maybe this would concentrate mainly on the east coast. As we know, the nature of farming in Ireland is different from many other countries. Animals, particularly cattle, move up and down across the country an awful lot. Animals come from marts in one place to another. There is a lot of movement. That can be a problem, particularly if the disease was already in the country last autumn and was undetected. Has it moved or has it spread? That is something that will only be ascertained if we can get adequate testing in place. We need to do that as quickly as possible. The issue of cross-Border trade is a real problem. Several mart managers and people in my part of the world are concerned about this. I got a parliamentary question only last week in respect of it. I understand that the certificate obviously cannot comply with the conditions that are there at present unless a derogation is put in place. The Minister might explain where we are at with that. Are there any active negotiations or discussions with the Minister's counterparts north of the Border or in Britain to try to work out a solution for that? It would be vital for the trade to try to have some solution put in place as early as possible. Many farmers out there are at their wits' end. I have been contacted by farmers who have large numbers of animals in stock and ready to go. They had customers in the North for them but they cannot sell them now. They are in real difficulty in that respect. As we know, disease control and the difficulties with it have a long history for farmers. I am not going to go into the TB scenario, but people are afraid that we may be looking at a similar situation down the road. The Minister mentioned in his speech that a change in the categorisation will result in a move from bluetongue being a disease for eradication to a disease for monitoring across the EU. What is that going to mean? Where will it put farmers in respect of disease-free status, etc.? The Minister mentioned how the Chinese market for hides has opened up again. Of course, no sooner had the Taoiseach announced that we had reopened trade with China than this happened and now it is closed again. That is one of the issues we have. We seem to be in a particular position with China and the Chinese market, which is massive. They seem to be so temperamental about any little thing at all that they shut everything down. There is a certain irony in that, but we will not get into that today. The reality is that we need to have as many markets open to us as possible. There needs to be a clear road map in order that farmers can understand how we are going to get through this. If we have a spread of this disease in May, what is going to happen then? Will we have widespread vaccination in place? If that is going to be required, are the vaccines in stock? How is that going to be managed? What implications will that have for trade? We need some clarity around all those issues. I fully respect that the Minister's Department is doing its best. I fully respect that it is doing everything it can to stay on top of it and to get information out there. Many of the farmers talking to me - I am sure they are talking to the Minister too - are saying they are at a bit of loss to know where we are going from here. What is the clear road map forward in respect of bluetongue? It comes at a time when farmers are already distressed and annoyed about lots of things, including the issue in Bord Bia and many other things, so these things do not help. We need to try to get to a stage where we can have a clear sense that everybody in the system is working together and everybody in the system is playing their part. That is why it is vitally important that we get a clear roadmap as to where it is going. First, we need full and proper testing to happen, so we can identify if there are any more problems. Second, if there are problems, how will they be dealt with and how quickly are we going to be able to get to a stage when animal movement can happen again and we can have some clarity around all of that? I welcome the statements and the fact we have a sense that we are on top of it. From the point of view of the time of year, it has been some comfort in that we can relax a little bit that it is not going to spread right now. When we come into the month of March, however, there could be a week or ten days of quite warm weather and we could be in a serious situation if we see this disease spreading. While many of the midges that may have brought it across originally are probably either hibernating or gone to their reward hopefully, there are others that may spread the disease if it is already latent in animals. There needs to be clarity around that because the other issue is that it can also be spread by bulls if bulls are going off to be sold. If that bull bulls a cow, the next thing is the cow has bluetongue. There are issues around testing and with animal movement. We need to get that clear pathway as to exactly what is going to happen and what this is going to cost not just to the industry as a whole, in the context of markets, but to the individual farmer from the point of view of vaccinations. Will there be any assistance for farmers around that? That would be useful for farmers to know and understand. There are so many things out there that are causing difficulties and this is just another one that farmers are really concerned about. They see the possibility of anything else, particularly for the beef sector, having a negative knock-on impact on them as very dangerous as we move forward. I understand there are certain questions we need to get answers to and I think the Minister appreciates that. We need clarity around this. Farmers need clarity around it also. Until now there has been particular anxiety around the issue of the cross-Border trade, North and South. If it is possible, this is the first thing on which we need to get clarity. What negotiations will be held? What actions are going to be taken? How are we going to get this opened up again in a safe way, which is the important part of it?

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