Bluetongue: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-24 ============================================================ Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South I thank Senators for putting this really important issue on the business of the Seanad today. I am delighted to have the opportunity to engage with the Upper House on the dynamic situation regarding bluetongue in Ireland. As colleagues know, bluetongue is a viral disease, caused by the bluetongue virus, that can result in severe clinical symptoms in ruminant species, including cattle, sheep, goats, deer and camelids such as alpacas and llamas. There are different serotypes of the bluetongue virus, the most common found in Europe being serotypes 1, 3, 4 and 8. Since the first detection of bluetongue serotype 3 in Ireland, which was in County Wexford on 22 January, infection has been detected in five more cattle herds in that county. A further infection was detected two weeks ago in a bovine that had been in a number of counties during the possible infection period. Investigations are ongoing into that case. Last week, two additional cases of bluetongue were detected, one of them in County Wicklow and the other in County Louth. While this is an unwelcome development, it is not unexpected as the virus has been spreading across Europe and Great Britain in recent years and was found in Northern Ireland in December 2025. It is important to emphasise that there are no human health risks associated with bluetongue. It does not affect human health or food safety, and meat and milk from infected animals are safe to eat and drink. My Department has made extensive efforts to communicate that clearly to the general public. I appreciate the efforts of colleagues in reiterating that message in any of their future engagements. I want to acknowledge the stress that the presence of bluetongue must cause to farmers generally, especially in the south-east and east. Bluetongue is spread by infected biting midges, as Senators are aware, many of which are found throughout the island of Ireland. The high risk period for the spread of bluetongue is when temperatures are warmer, between April and November, where it is consistently north of 12°C. Thankfully, given the temperatures this time of the year the disease cannot be spread by midges. It is fair to say that how we would respond to the first outbreak in January is very different to how we would respond to one in July, something I can go into in more detail in my reply or in a supplementary follow-up. It is conjectured that the incursion was caused by infected midges blowing over to Ireland from areas of Great Britain where bluetongue virus, BTV-3, was present. The dispersion modelling undertaken by the UCD centre for veterinary epidemiology and risk analysis, CVERA, identified that the time most likely to experience such an incursion would have been late September 2025. My Department is undertaking ongoing national surveillance nationally, covering all parts of the country. This includes the culled cow blood testing programme, the testing of animals submitted to my Department's network of regional veterinary labs, the investigation of clinical suspects reported to my Department by farmers or vets and targeted surveillance in counties identified by the modelling carried out by UCD. While animal movement controls may be required if the circumstances indicate it, based on the information currently available the veterinary epidemiological risk assessment is that animal movement controls are not necessary currently and it is not expected that this will change. My Department has undertaken regular engagement with farm organisations and stakeholders across the industry, as well as with my counterparts in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, since Ireland's first case was confirmed. Ireland has now lost its disease-free status for bluetongue. This has certain ramifications for trade, predominately for the movement of live animals and germinal products in the EU and third countries. My Department is working to renegotiate veterinary health certificates, VHCs, to facilitate ongoing trade, which has been impacted by the loss of freedom from bluetongue, including live animal exports. Much progress has made this area but work is ongoing in respect of some markets. I am happy to report that on 18 February, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency agreed an interim trade certificate with Ireland, which will allow dairy exports to resume. This follows previous success in securing resumed access for hides and skins to the Chinese market. The detection of bluetongue in Ireland has created challenges for intracommunity trade in cattle and sheep and is of particular concern to farmers in respect of the movement of calves and movements for breeding and production to Northern Ireland. The conditions for the agreed animal health certificates under which cattle and sheep can move to Northern Ireland for breeding and production can no longer be met due to bluetongue. In addition, the conditions to meet certification requirements for movement to Great Britain cannot currently be met either. Some importing member states have chosen to apply derogations to these conditions, thereby allowing the inward movement of cattle and sheep from countries with BTV-3, such as Ireland, subject to certain additional requirements decided by those member states. No such derogations are in place in respect of Northern Ireland and therefore, the movement of cattle and sheep for breeding and production from Ireland to Northern Ireland cannot currently take place. The decision on whether to apply the derogation and the conditions which would apply if that were done is one taken by the importing member state, not by us. I announced last December that BTV-3 vaccination under licence would be permitted in Ireland in 2026. The high risk period for infection will be during the warmer months. Farmers, in consultation with their veterinary practitioners, should consider whether the use of BTV-3 vaccines during the spring to protect their stock in advance of any midge-borne virus spread during those warmer months is appropriate for them. There are three different vaccines available, though none as yet has an established duration of immunity. In the broader European context, the Commission has recently recategorised bluetongue serotypes 1 to 24, inclusive, in EU regulations under the animal health law, shifting it from a category C to a category D and E disease. This change is scheduled to take full effect on 15 July this year and will result in bluetongue being treated as a disease under surveillance as opposed to a disease to be eradicated. This means that under EU legislation, no member state will be able to achieve official freedom from bluetongue. The implication for Ireland is that the emphasis will be on movement controls and surveillance, rather than disease eradication. I would like to acknowledge the continued co-operation of industry stakeholders with my Department in preparing for and dealing with the incursion of the bluetongue virus. I look forward to hearing the contributions of Members. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-24