25. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there are adequate amounts of bluetongue vaccine here to carry out a vaccine programme in the spring, if needed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6708/26]

Sentiment score: 0.08

This question is on the bluetongue outbreak. We saw yesterday that three more farms have been found to have animals with bluetongue. It is a very serious problem and a lot of farmers are very concerned. What is missing from all of this is that we do not know what the plan is. I appreciate we will have a meeting with members of the agriculture committee in respect of this after these questions. We do not know what the plan is. We know that vaccines have been approved. Are there stocks of them? What will happen as we move forward? Where did this come from? That is one of the big questions a lot of farmers have and it is their real concern. What do they need to watch for? How do animals get infected?

Sentiment score: -0.02

I thank the Minister and I appreciate all of the work that has been done. When I ask where it came from, there is the monitoring of the wind but we are in the winter and the weather is very cold. The likelihood of it coming from midges blown across the Irish Sea is probably minimal, I expect. How much investigation of this has been done? A lot of straw is being imported. Could the disease come with midges in the straw? These are the kinds of questions farmers ask me. People are perplexed that it is here at this time of the year. While I doubt it is the case, is there a connection with the outbreak in County Down before Christmas? That is very unlikely seeing as the cases were in two opposite ends of the country. People would like to get information in respect of this. We tell farmers to be vigilant but what do they need to be vigilant for? This is really what we need to focus on. The Minister did not get to speak about the vaccines and where that is at. Perhaps we will hear about it at the meeting later.

Sentiment score: 0.07

I thank the Minister. I want to follow up a little on this. Obviously, these are animals that probably got infected last summer. This will concern many in the agricultural community. Does this mean there are animals on a lot of farms around the country that contracted it last summer but it was not identified, they presented no symptoms and it will only be when they go to the factory and a test is done that it will be found? This is a big concern I have learned about this morning from the Minister. I was not aware of that before now, and I am sure a lot of people were not either. With regard to the spreading of the disease, we are in cold weather now but climate change is probably at the root of a lot of this. With the weather getting warmer, we will see a lot more of these diseases, which have probably been confined to hotter climates, starting to move up. This will be an issue as we move forward. We could get a couple of weeks in March when temperatures are 15°C or 16°C. What will happen then? That is the issue we need to focus on and it is where the vaccine comes into play.

Sentiment score: 0.04

I think we will have to have a special debate on St. Brigid on a later occasion.

Sentiment score: 0.40

Deputy O'Rourke is the longest waiting, although we have two more Deputies coming in. Will we go to Deputy O'Rourke and then revert to the list?

Sentiment score: 0.00