Victor Boyhan presses for clarity on plant health strategy

Chair, just a few one-off questions. I touched on earlier the plant health and biodiversity strategy 2020-2025. That's over. Clearly, there may be lessons learned. It's always good to analyse this strategy, to look at it, to see its failings or its weaknesses or indeed its strengths. So, I presume that's done. You might just confirm that. And secondly, you might tell us when you hope to be in a position to publish the new strategy. That's the first question. I'll take one at a time. Okay. Thanks, Senator. So, there's a broader consultation on the plant health and biodiversity strategy. The new one is just taking place. So, if you've had a chance to see that, it's very much informed by the previous strategy because it was very clear in terms of risk anticipation, risk surveillance and risk awareness. Those three pillars. So, that's back to the portal piece in terms of horizon scanning. It's to do with our internal surveillance. And then, very importantly, education, training, guidance, and communication with those involved, whether it's the people who grow, the people who import, or the people who purchase. So, when do you hope to have that ready? Very sure. It just closed on Friday. So, we've just got the comments back from all the stakeholders. We're working through that. That's great. So, there is a plant health stakeholders grouping and they're all integrally involved in that as well. So, it's a global sort of process. That's great. And I'll just push on. I just want to give short questions and short sort of answers. And then, in relation to the tailored plan that you talked about, you say there'll be a tailored plan on how to respond to the event of the outbreak of the beetle. The department says the plan is at an advanced stage of development. Where are we in relation to that? So, we have a generic contingency plan that kicks in no matter what pest we have, okay? And then, within that, for specific bark beetles, in terms of the Ips topographers, we have a forest health stakeholder grouping. So, we have more or less signed off on that document. We're just making sure that they agree with that and you'll see it in the next. Okay, that's great. The invasive species, I know from the local authorities that they have a certain responsibility or the department of local government has responsibilities there. Is there some sort of duplication or there should be some sort of crossover with your department? But I couldn't find any... I see that local authorities are endeavouring to carry out... You know, it's a bit of a science there. You know, it's a bit of expertise that they don't necessarily have. Some local authorities would have had agricultural advisors traditionally. I don't know what the situation there is. What's your focus in terms of invasive species? So, I'm talking about, you mentioned earlier on, black grass is a challenge. There are other noxious weeds, et cetera. There are problems. Yeah, and Senator, that all comes under the department remit, those aspects. And in terms of some of the other invasive alien species beyond that, yes. So, it's the NPWS and Department of Housing that cover that. The Department of Outcourt is still involved at the frontier in terms of the inspection of the consignments coming through. I'm not directly involved, so I'll get something back to you on that in writing. I'm not directly involved. In terms of the resources, the financial resources I'm talking about, also the capacity and the expertise available to the department. Can you touch on that? I mean, biodiversity strategy and biosecurity... Biosecurity, should I say, is really critically important now. We see the enormous challenges and difficulties around all of that. Can you sort of take us through... If you haven't got the exact details today, I appreciate it's technically. You might have seen this coming. You might provide a sort of a memo or a note to the committee, you know. Because I think we want to get a handle. Have you got all the resources that you need? This is a huge area. And it is a science, and I think we need to stress that out. This is just... There's more to this than just an understanding. It is a science, and it needs resources, and it needs capacity within your department. And have you got... Could you give us confidence? Could we talk about... The IFA talked about no confidence. We need to instill confidence. So transparency is part of that message of instilling confidence into the farming of the barristers. But I think it's a bigger issue. But I think we would need to know, have you got... Do you feel that you could say today at this committee that you have all the resources at your disposal in terms of progressing biosecurity strategy to a level that is required? Thanks, Eric. That's a broad question, obviously. And I suppose... So I was asked earlier about the resources allocated today, and I couldn't find my note. But anyway, I found it out. 8.2 million were spent on biosecurity targeted animal support advisory herd visits in 2025. And this is where we pay via Animal Health Ireland for your own vet to go out and give you specific advice on biosecurity. And there's an allocation similarly for 2026. So this demonstrates that commitment. That's a specific sum, 8.2 million in 2025 on it. And there's, you know, 28,000 visits in total done in 2025. I might hand over to my colleague, Avril, to talk specifically about all the other ways that we support biosecurity. But I suppose, sorry, just to be clear, I'm not asking what you do. I don't doubt what you're doing. I have no doubt about that. I have every confidence that you're doing. Have you got sufficient resources to do it to the level that you believe is required? That's what... Many public servants have come in here in the past and expressed concern. They're not afraid. You know, some good public servants don't have a problem coming in and saying they could do with more resources. Most people will say, the more resources are the better. But I want to just get a handle that there isn't a problem in terms of resources for you to do your job. I think the... Well, Avril, let me know. Yeah, so all the research would show that it's, you know, it's biosecurity at a higher level is well understood. It's not something that should be from a top down. So we can talk about biosecurity, but is that going to help, you know, the farmer in whatever county? Yeah. So that's why working with the likes of Chagas and working with Animal Health Ireland, working with the vets. So it's getting all the stakeholders in, you know, to get that biosecurity message out. So that TASA, that was first rolled out to the pig and poultry sector. And I think there was a previous question about the cap, but it is... So the biosecurity assessments are, if you're in the Board B, a quality assurance scheme for pigs and poultry, you have to do your biosecurity assessment. And that's where we would see that, you know, biosecurity is especially important for the intensive sectors. So it's working with, you know, so farmers are going to listen to their own peers, so other farmers are doing it to the knowledge transfer programmes to Chagas. And then also they're going to listen to advice from their own vets. So that's through the TASA working. We're actually putting in, you know, an article in Veterinary Journal that will be going into the next to get. So that communication piece out, I suppose, yeah, we tried to, the biosecurity strategy, not that we kept it simple, but keep the messaging. So the ABC is the awareness, behavioural change and the consistency. So, you know, it's unfortunately something you have to do every day, that consistent biosecurity practices on your farm. So that's really where our focus and at the launch, you know, we were delighted to have Chagas and Animal Health Ireland there to help us with the launch. And that's where we see the direction of travel with the next strategy is, you know, working closely with those partners. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor. You