To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the biosecurity measures in place to prevent livestock diseases, such as avian influenza, entering Northern Ireland.

Biosecurity measures range from the official controls in place across the entire food production and supply chain, to the education of industry through knowledge transfer and raising awareness via media channels. Some measures are statutory while many are industry-led in response to their recognition of the importance of effective biosecurity to safeguard their livestock and products.

Disease surveillance and horizon scanning plays an important role in ensuring that threats to animal health are detected early, and in allowing risks to be mitigated.

DAERA officials are members of several veterinary disease risk groups involved in horizon scanning for new and emerging diseases at a United Kingdom, European and International level. In December 2020, in the light of a heightened avian influenza alert status across Europe and the UK, my department moved quickly to establish controls to limit disease ingress into and / or spread within Northern Ireland.

My Department also implements statutory disease surveillance programmes including annual surveys for exotic livestock diseases e.g. Avian Influenza, Bluetongue, Brucellosis; post-import testing and isolation requirements for other diseases e.g. Bluetongue, Maedi-Visna; and the inspection, testing and traceability and provenance control regimes carried out by official veterinarians working in Northern Ireland’s red and white meat processing plants.

Controls at NI ports and airports are also an important line of defence to prevent notifiable disease entry via imports of livestock or products of animal origin. DAERA officials screen these and detain illegal imports, again working closely with industry partners to educate and inform those travelling of the associated risks.

Training in the importance of biosecurity is provided within livestock training modules delivered by the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise, and within the Business Development Group programmes. The DAERA Biosecurity code and other guidance is widely available on the DAERA website and we routinely encourage all primary producers to familiarise themselves with this Code.