No. 9/1931:

THE FOREIGN ANIMALS ORDER OF 1931.

THE FOREIGN ANIMALS ORDER OF 1931.

ORDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION FOR IRELAND.

(Dated 30th January, 1931.)

The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, by virtue and in exercise of the powers vested in them under the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, the Diseases of Animals Acts, 1894 to 1914, and of every other power enabling them in this behalf, do, with the concurrence of the Minister for Agriculture, hereby order :—

1.—In this Order :

"Animals" means cattle, sheep, goats, all other ruminating animals and swine.

"Country" does not include Great Britain, Northern Ireland, or the Irish Free State.

"Inspector" includes a Veterinary Inspector .

"Litter" means straw or other substance commonly used for bedding or otherwise for or about animals.

"Fodder" means hay or other substance commonly used for food of animals.

"Master" includes a person having the charge or command of a vessel.

"Scheduled Country" means a country specified in the Schedule to this Order or included in the Schedule to this Order by any subsequent Order.

"Port" includes place.

"The Act of 1894"means the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894.

"The Department" means the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland.

"Approved Disinfectant" means either a five per cent. solution of standard phenol, or a disinfectant approved by the Department, if used at the dilution at which such disinfectant is so approved.

Other terms have the same meaning as in the Act of 1894.

2.—It shall not be lawful to bring into a port in the Irish Free State any animal brought (a) from a port in any country other than a scheduled country, or (b) from a port in a scheduled country if the animal since it was taken on board at such port has entered a port in any country other than a scheduled country, provided that this Article shall not apply to any vessel not bound for a port in the Irish Free State which comes into such port under stress of weather or for repairs.

3.—In the case of any animal brought into a port in the Irish Free State—

(a) from a port in any country other than a scheduled country, or

(b) from a port in a scheduled country, or from a port in the Irish Free State, if the vessel since taking the animal on board at that port has entered a port in any country other than a scheduled country,

the following conditions shall apply while the vessel is in a port in the Irish Free State, without prejudice to any proceedings for a contravention of the provisions of the preceding Article, namely :—

(1) The animal shall not be removed from the vessel in which it was brought to the Irish Free State.

(2) No fittings, pens, hurdles, utensils, fodder, litter or other things used for or about any such animal or dung, shall be landed in the Irish Free State.

(3) An Inspector of the Department or of the Local Authority shall be permitted to examine the animal at such time or times as he may require.

(4) No person, except Inspectors of the Department or of the Local Authority, Officers of Customs and Excise, and persons actually engaged in tending the animal or cleansing or disinfecting the pens, shall enter any pen or other part of the vessel in which an animal is or has recently been kept, until the pen or other part of the vessel has been cleansed and disinfected in the manner prescribed by paragraph (6) of this Article.

(5) Every person upon leaving a pen or other part of the vessel in which an animal is or has recently been kept shall thoroughly wash his hands with soap and water and disinfect his boots with an approved disinfectant, and every person having been in any such pen or part of the vessel, shall, before landing from the vessel in the Irish Free State, take such steps as may be necessary to disinfect his clothes.

(6) The vessel shall, while any such animal remains on board in any port in the Irish Free State, be cleansed and disinfected at intervals not exceeding twenty-four hours, in the manner hereinafter described :

(i) All parts of the vessel with which any animal or its droppings or other excretions have come in contact shall be scraped and swept so as effectually to remove therefrom all dung, litter, and other matter ; then thoroughly washed or scrubbed or scoured with water ; and then disinfected by being thoroughly coated or washed with an approved disinfectant.

(ii) All fittings, pens, hurdles, or utensils used for or about any animal shall be scraped ; then thoroughly washed or scrubbed or scoured with water ; and then disinfected by being thoroughly coated or washed with an approved disinfectant.

(iii) All head-ropes or halters used for securing the animals on the vessel shall be disinfected by a thorough immersion in an approved disinfectant.

(iv) All dung of the animals, and all litter, scrapings and sweepings removed from the pens or other parts of the vessel, shall be thoroughly mixed with quicklime and thereafter without delay be destroyed by fire on board the vessel, or disposed of without landing as an Inspector of the Department or of the Local Authority may direct, in such a manner as effectually to prevent their contact with animals.

(v) While any part of the vessel is being cleansed or disinfected, the animals therein shall be temporarily removed to another part of the vessel.

(vi) When no animal remains on board, the said parts of the vessel, and all fittings, pens, hurdles, utensils and head-ropes or halters shall forthwith be finally cleansed and disinfected in the manner above described.

4.—Nothing in this Order shall be deemed to authorise the landing of carcases, dung, fodder, litter, fitting, pen, hurdle, utensil or other thing contrary to the provisions of the Foreign Animals (Ireland) Order of 1901, or otherwise to interfere with the operation of that Order.

5.—From the commencement of this Order the Order described in the Second Schedule hereto is hereby revoked.

6.—(1) If any animal is brought into a port in contravention of this Order, the owner and the charterer and the Master of the vessel conveying the animal shall each according to and in respect of his or their own acts and defaults be deemed guilty of an offence against the Act of 1894.

(2) If any person fails to carry out or observe any direction as regards cleansing or disinfection he shall be deemed guilty of an offence against the Act of 1894.

(3) If anything is done or omitted to be done with respect to any vessel in contravention of this Order, the owner and the charterer and the Master of the vessel in which the same is done or omitted to be done shall each, according to, and in respect of, his or their own acts or omissions, be deemed guilty of an offence against the Act of 1894.

7.—This Order shall come into operation on the date hereof.

8. This Order may be cited as the Foreign Animals Order of 1931.

IN WITNESS whereof, the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland have hereunto set their Official Seal, this thirtieth day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-one.

F. J. MEYRICK, Secretary.

I concur in the foregoing Order.

P. HOGAN,

Minister for Agriculture.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

COUNTRIES EXCEPTED.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

ORDER REVOKED.