Tags for sheep have been available for the Republic's 44,000 sheep farmers as of last Friday from approved tag suppliers as the opening step in the plan to tag every sheep in the State. The Department of Agriculture has picked Midsummer Day, June 21st, as "National Sheep Identification System Day," when any sheep moved from farms to marts, factories or other holdings will have to wear an eartag.
The tagging of sheep had been opposed by the farm organisations, especially the Irish Farmers' Association, on the grounds it was impractical and costly. But the arrival of foot-and-mouth disease changed the political climate and broke the opposition to tagging.
This was compounded by the irregularities discovered in the Cooley peninsula when 100 of the 275 flock-owners on the peninsula were found to be claiming EU subsidies for more ewes than they had on their lands.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, said that from December 15th next, all remaining sheep would have to be tagged in accordance with the law. "I see this as a landmark development which will bring badly needed traceability, transparency and accountability to the sheep sector," he said.
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease had demonstrated to all the need for traceability, he added, and had tagging been in place at the time of the outbreak, it would have been much easier for the authorities to track down contact animals.
Mr Walsh said that while farmers will be able to sell their cattle in marts from June 18th, free movement of sheep would have to be delayed until 200,000 blood tests being carried out on the national herd had been completed.