This article is from page 28 of the 2005-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
DETAILS of new government regulations concerning the transporting of all farm animals is currently being circu- lated to representatives of farming groups, transporters, operators of assembly centres, livestock marts, the horse industry, dog breeders and national welfare bodies by the Department of Agriculture.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Cough- lan is hoping to get the opinions of the concerned parties on the new regulations which are due to come into effect in January of 2007. Minister Coughlan announced the details of the consultation paper on the protection of ani- mals during transport in Dublin last week.
The paper states that all transporters of animals, even those including farmers transporting their own animals, irrespective of the distance travelled must comply with general conditions concerning animal welfare, mode of transport and loading and unloading facilities.
Indeed all those who transport animals for more than 65 km must be officially authorised and undergo official meebuNpuNtes
Indeed the paper also states that persons who transport animals on journeys of over eight hours must use vehicles that have been inspected and approved and must keep de- tailed records of all of their transport operations. Inter- esting these long haul vehicles must also be fitted with a satellite based navigation system.
THE IFA national treasurer and candidate in the upcom- ing presidential election Padraig Walshe has called on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Dick Roche to provide support for the col- lection of surplus waste farm plastic.
Mr Walshe’s comments come just one week after the announcement by the Irish Farm Film Plastic Group (IFFPG) that collection was to be suspended throughout the country because of lack of funds. The IFFPG claim that the purchase of illegal black market plastic by farm- ers is making collecting all the plastic untenable.
‘Farmers in some counties have not received a collec- tion of their waste farm plastic for a number of years,” said Mr Walshe. “We now need a targeted programme to collect the surplus plastic that has built up on farms over the last two years and to allow the collection service
By the terms outlined in the paper the regulations will not apply to journeys that are not undertaken for financial gains. According to the department these safe activities include the transport of animals to and from agricultural shows.
In addition to this the operators of assembly centres must ensure that animals are treated in accordance with technical rules and personnel employed by them must have received training in all of these rules.
At the announcement of the plan the Minister said that the welfare of animals being transported 1s paramount and she invites interested parties to submit views to her Department on the new rules. In particular she said she would welcome observations on any further specific ar- eas that may be considered as not constituting an eco- nomic activity.
Interested parties have been given until October 31 to submit opinions and comments to the department. Submissions should be submitted to the Department of Agriculture and Food, National Beef Assurance Divi- sion (Transport Section), Business Park, Maynooth, Co Gtr cer
The paper available at the Department of Agriculture and Food website in the “What’s New” section at www. agriculture.gov.ie. The proposed regulation applies to the transport of all live animals, including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and horses.
restart its activities without delay.”
Clare is one of the worst counties hit by the halt in collection with roughly half of the county’s plastic left uncollected. Other counties badly hit are Wexford and Roscommon where little or no plastic has been collected this year and Galway where less than one third of plastic has been collected.
“The Scheme has received strong support from farm- ers since it started in 1997 and has played a key role in protecting the rural environment,’ continued Mr Walshe. ‘* However, it must now carefully examine its business model to provide the funding needed to meet increasing farmer demand for waste collections, which is occurring due to greater farmer participation in REPS and the envi- ronmental requirements of the Single Farm Payment.”