Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Cathaoirleach will have to give me a bit more because I was at a disadvantage. We all know where TB is at the minute and how long it has been going on. I have a couple of questions. The cost to farmers is enormous at this stage. The compensation payments need to keep up to speed with the increase in the price of cattle. The valuation I am told people are getting if they have a pure red reactor is nowhere near what that animal might be worth. We have to look at the compensation.

Putting up risk category on mart boards cannot happen in any circumstances. The people who have had reactors have lost enough money. They have lost enough emotionally and financially by the time they get to the mart. If there is a risk category for their animal, they will get less. They will be discriminated against and it is guaranteed they will get less for those animals. That is another loss to them because there are people out there who will target them. There are people out there who know how to make a handy buck. They will give the nod and wink around the ring and will pay less because of the risk category. It is guaranteed. That cannot happen.

I am a promoter of vaccination. We have been doing the same thing for the past 70 years. We all know about the definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It will not happen. We have to start putting money into and really concentrate on vaccination. It has already been developed in the UK. It is just a matter of whether an animal comes up in a test as being vaccinated or a reactor.

I have a slightly different question that is related to TB. Are we going down the same road with bovine viral diarrhoea, BVD? A testing programme over three years came in, with an option for another three years, which is six years. That was 12 years ago. The testing fee is now €4.20 a head for the farmer. If there are people here who will still be alive in 70 years, will we still be talking about BVD testing that was introduced for a short period? We need to know are we going down the same road.

Will the Department put a serious focus on vaccination? It is the only way out of this problem, as far as I am concerned. If we can vaccinate a badger, we can vaccinate a cow.