AQW 26799/17-22

Mrs Deborah Erskine
Democratic Unionist Party
Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Tabled Date: 02/12/2021
Answered On Date: 17/12/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what work he is undertaking to support sheep breeders who are having difficulty as a result of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in selling their livestock in the rest of the UK.

Answer:

Additional animal health requirements, as prescribed by European Union (EU) legislation listed in the Northern Ireland (NI) Protocol, have been applicable for NI livestock wishing to return to NI following attendance at a sale in GB, since 1st January 2021.

I am completely opposed to any additional requirements for the re-entry of livestock to NI from GB under the NI Protocol and am very aware of the difficulties these have presented for livestock breeders in general. For this reason, I have written on a number of occasions to Maroš Šefčovič the EU Vice President and to George Eustice MP, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to highlight the burden these new requirements impose on livestock breeders.

In response the European Commission has proposed a regulatory solution which enables animals from NI to return home after a period of attendance not exceeding 15 days at sales, events, exhibitions, displays or shows in GB, without needing to fulfil a six month residency period, subject to certain conditions being met. One of these is that animals must not mix with those of a lower health status, meaning that all animals entering the sale etc in GB must either be of the same health status, or else kept segregated from any of a lower health status while at the sale.

The proposed solution requires legislative amendments which will be subject to a three month scrutiny period, after which it is expected they will be formally adopted by the EU. However in order to mitigate the negative impacts currently being experienced, it has been agreed that these measures can be introduced with immediate effect, before the legislation is formally adopted.

To this end a new Export Health Certificate has been recently published which permits, subject to certain conditions, the return to NI of cattle, sheep and goats which originate in NI and are moved to Great Britain (GB) for an approved sale.

Further details are available on the DAERA website at https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/return-ni-cattle-sheep-and-goats-approved-show-or-sale-gb#skip-link.

These new arrangements which follow extensive technical discussions between my officials and those of the United Kingdom government with the European Union will significantly reduce the difficulties that local sheep breeders have been encountering in selling their livestock in the rest of the UK as a result of the NI Protocol.