Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending.

On the back of Mr. Cashman's report, and given the time of year, it is important to assure anyone listening that Rudolph and his colleagues are in no danger of being shot. That is an important message to send because there may be young ears having to listen to us because daddy or mammy want to listen to us.

Deer have appeared near my home when they were never there previously. There might not be that many of them. We cannot count the national herd. I do not know where they are coming from or how many there are, but they are appearing on the roads when they were never there previously. I presume that an organised cull, should one happen, will concentrate on areas such as Wicklow where deer are prevalent. They are now prevalent in my area but were never there previously. It is a major issue. If we cannot count them, the witnesses will hardly be able to answer my next question. Is there any proof as to the rate of TB? Are deer spreading TB? Is it prevalent with them? Are they just carriers? Is it the big issue people are making it out to be? Is there any scientific proof for that?

I have a couple of questions for the Department on matters we have discussed previously. One matter was mentioned on the previous occasion the Department's representatives were before the committee but I see no mention of it in the report. The old adage is that prevention is better than cure. The only mention of vaccination in Mr. O'Mahony's opening statement was vaccination of badgers. Has that been proved to work? Are vaccinated badgers retested? Has there been instances where vaccinated badgers have later been proved to have TB?

Vaccination is the future. That is science. It is the way we are going. Look at the pandemic. Vaccination got us out of the hole in the end. Has there been any development of a vaccination for bovines? Representatives of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, were before the committee this morning and the witnessers know what we were talking about. In the mix and part of the index are the TB-resistant traits they are beginning to see. They said it is not going to be the solution to the problem, and I cannot see how it would be. Calves may come from a bull with a good TB resistance rate but if they live in a field beside a wood that is full of deer and badgers, they have a better chance of getting TB than their brothers and sisters in a high field somewhere far away. I do not know how to make the correlation or do the science. However, the ICBF representatives seemed to think there are TB resistant traits. Will science bring us to a situation of prevention, whether through vaccination or breeding? We will be working on a cure for a very long time because we have already been at it for a long time. We are only holding our own. We are peddling hard to stand still. I know the numbers of cattle have gone up so the percentage of those infected with TB in a larger herd will be a bigger figure. There might even be a smaller percentage but that can mean a larger number of infected animals if the herd is bigger. There are always going to be deer, if deer are the problem. There are always going to be badgers. With the best will in the world, a cull is only going to maintain a steady number of deer. We are always going to have deer. Unless we can start vaccinating deer as well, we are always going to have TB. It will be an issue while we are depending on testing, identification and removal of the reactors and unless we can come up with a prevention. I would like to know where the science is at with respect to a potential vaccination. Is the vaccination of badgers the gauge to be looking at? Is it working in badgers? If a vaccination is working in badgers, why is there not a vaccination that would work in bovines?