Réada Cronin
Ceist:848. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to address fireblight disease in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44710/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 5 November 2024
Ceisteanna (848)
Freagraí scríofa
Plant Health within the European Union (EU) is governed by the EU Plant Health Regulation 2016/2031 and the Official Controls Regulation 2017/625. These Regulations harmonise the rules in areas such as, the surveillance for pests of plant health and actions to be taken in the event of the confirmation of the presence of specific plant pests, including Erwinia amylovora (Fireblight) and rules on the maintenance of protected zones. These rules are applied nationally, therefore, the approach to Fireblight is the same in all counties.
In line with EU rules and this Departments plant health generic contingency plan for each confirmed outbreak site a “Demarcated area” consisting of a 500m “infested zone” and a 5km “buffer zone” are established in line with the known biology of the pest. Delimiting surveys are then conducted to establish the true extent of the outbreaks and can result in the revision of the size of infested and buffer zones, respectively. Such surveys are conducted during the growing season as this is when the pest can be detected.
Under EU rules a 24-month period from the official confirmation of the presence of the pest is permitted to complete surveillance and achieve eradication, where possible.