Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have been following most of the deliberations on the monitor, but if I ask questions that have been asked already, the witness can tell me.

I welcome the officials. In the past five or six months, following the severe drought, did the Department notice a spike in the incidence of TB arising in places where farming practices have changed such that farmers are feeding livestock in fields and dropping the meal and mixture in those fields? The Department does background research on farms that pick up TB. Did it notice that those farms had changed their practice of feeding livestock in the past six months?

The compensation issue is the most important one. It is all fine if the cow is there and the milk is going to the creamery, but there are many beef or suckler farmers who become locked up with phenomenal costs. At the end of the day, compensation depends on the size and weight of the livestock unit. No matter what way prices go, costs are involved in paying for the farm management operation. Some farms must carry stock for longer periods if they are locked up a second time. Compensation has become a significant issue and it is incorporated into the added costs.

On a more trivial point, Mr. Ryan mentioned that the Department had tested deer near Wicklow and he noted that some strains were more prone to TB. Is it the same in the case of livestock? Given the variety of lactating cows on our farms, is there a prevalence in different breeds for picking up TB more easily than others?

My colleagues raised the idea of establishing a TB forum, which we welcome. Does the Department see itself going down the road of all-out blood testing as opposed to testing under the skin? From what I see in my backyard, herds go down in double rather than single digits, and recently there have been very high levels of TB. What is happening and what is causing it in an area that I thought had been cleared?

I trust that there was no repetition in my contribution.