There are concerns among farmers about the protection of their data collected under the proposed National Veterinary Prescription System (NVPS), the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has heard.
Farm organisations including the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) have informed the committee about “real concerns” farmers are having particularly in relation to the national database.
Data could be used to flag herds for inspection, or be accessed by milk or meat processors to categorise herds and ultimately devalue the products supplied by farmers, according to IFA animal health policy executive, Anna Daly.
The IFA, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), and Macra engaged in pre-legislative scrutiny of the Veterinary Medicinal Products Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022 on Wednesday (October 19).
The bill, which provides for the introduction of a NVPS and a National Fertiliser Database, outlines that farmers’ data could to be shared with government agencies and Bord Bia, Senator Tim Lombard said.
“The level of information required in the bill and where that information goes is something that is new to the table here,” he said.
“The data protection issue in particular is a question that needs to be answered, and it is up to this committee how we will move that forward.
“It is quite possible the committee will look for the data protection commissioner [Helen Dixon] to look at the legislation to see whether the [bill] is appropriate,” the senator said.
He added that data protection concerns around the medical remedy database and the fertiliser database will be an “interesting twist in this piece of legislation”.
Committee chair, Deputy Jackie Cahill said it is not planned that the data protection commissioner will speak before the committee.
Animal health chair of the IFA, TJ Maher has warned of a situation where farmers are being held accountable for the faults and failures for those who are prescribing.
“In this situation we have to ensure that individual farmer’s data is not going to be used against them,” he told the committee.
“Secondly, we have the development of a huge database which would then be sought for on the NVPS for use by outside bodies for the surveillance of agriculture and farms.”
In relation to the proposed introduction of a fertiliser database, IFA’s cereals policy executive, Max Potterton said the use of information compiled in the database clearly states that it is to inform policy and control programmes, and reduce inorganic fertiliser use.
The association believes the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) needs to provide clarification on third parties and anonymised data which could be submitted to those, he told the committee.