§ 56. Mr. C. BATHURSTasked what is the greatest radius of an area scheduled 1801 by the Department round an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease; and why any such radius ever exceeds 15 miles?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)The principle of the 15 miles radius, on which the procedure in Great Britain is also based, is observed in Ireland as a rule. It is, however, sometimes necessary in the absence of suitable natural boundaries to adopt a boundary which at particular points exceeds the 15 miles limit. The furthest point in any existing boundary is approximately 18 miles from the infected place.
§ Mr. PATRICK WHITEDoes not a line drawn across Ireland from Oranmore, Galway, to Drogheda constitute the whole of the South of Ireland a scheduled area so far as the export traffic is concerned?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThat is a general question, and one that scarcely arises on the question.
§ 57. Mr. PATRICK WHITEasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether he will state why, in drawing a line across Ireland dividing the country into two areas under different regulations, when he reached Mullingar he swerved from the straight course and drew it directly north for a distance, and then south-east, forming an acute angle; whether he will state if the line so drawn, to be effectively guarded by the Constabulary, would require three times more men than if he continued in a straight course from Mullingar to the sea viâ Trim, Duleek, to the outlet of the Delvin at Gormanstown; whether, as cattle cannot be shipped from the port of Drogheda, although they can be trucked from its railway station, the area around the port is to be considered as the neutral measure of Irish territory enjoying neither the advantages of being the northern side of the line nor the disadvantages of the southern; and whether there is any and, if so, what prospects of Drogheda port being opened?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe consent of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to the opening of certain northern ports for the shipment of animals for slaughter was conditional on the boundary line being drawn as it is at present defined. The circumstance that about the time of the outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Cork City animals were known to have been moved thence as far north-east as the counties of Meath and West- 1802 meath accounts for the deviation of the line from Mullingar. When the general position becomes somewhat more reassuring, the Department will make suitable representations to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries as regards the adoption of a new boundary line favourably affecting Drogheda, but they do not feel that the present position warrants them in pressing for immediate resumption of shipments from Drogheda Port.
§ 59. Mr. DELANYasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether it was his Department or the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries which drew the line prohibiting the shipping of cattle to certain ports in this country for immediate slaughter from King's and Queen's Counties; and, considering that a case of foot-and-mouth disease has not occurred in these counties for the past thirty years, he can say when this prohibition shall be removed?
§ Mr. BIRRELLAt present the orders of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries allow of the shipment of animals for immediate slaughter from certain northern ports only, and the Board's consent to shipments from these ports was made conditional on the movement of animals being prohibited by the Department out of the part of Ireland south of a line drawn from Drogheda on the east coast to Oranmore on the west. I am unable to say when the Department will be in a position to modify this prohibition, but as the general situation improves suitable representations in the matter will be made to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Apart from this prohibition some parts of both King's and Queen's Counties are included in an area which has been scheduled by the Department on account of the existence of the disease within a fifteen miles radius, and out of which the movement of animals is prohibited.