Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Ba mhaith liom, ar dtús báire, mo bhuíochas a ghabháil do mo comhghleacaí agus mo chara, Deputy White, as an gceist thábhactach seo a ardú, mar thug mé cuairt ar an bhfeirm mé féin tamall ó shin. I therefore appreciate the difficulties being experienced by the farmer and his family.

My Department and other relevant agencies have already invested considerable resources in terms of personnel and laboratory analysis, and continue to do so in an effort to get to the cause of the problem. The animal health problems on the farm have been ongoing for a number of years and relate mainly to ill thrift and stunted growth of cattle on the farm as well as severe milk yield loss in the dairy herd. The farm has been the subject of extensive reviews over the years and is currently the subject of further investigations being carried out by the Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis, CVERA, based at UCD and funded by the Department.

It had been suggested that one of the likely causes of the problems being experienced on this farm was possible exposure of animals to fluorine being emitted from a nearby brick factory. For this reason, there has been a high degree of inter-agency involvement and co-operation in the investigations. The agencies involved have included the Environmental Protection Agency, Kilkenny County Council, Teagasc, the South Eastern Health Board and my Department. In 2004, the Department's veterinary laboratory service arranged for a wide-ranging study to be undertaken into the problems on the farm, following which a number of reports were produced in June 2006. These reports documented the range of the investigations, the methodology involved and the results of different aspects.

In broad terms, the reports concluded that while there were undoubtedly animal problems on the farm, the investigations had not established that the environmental impact of emissions from the factory, particularly fluoride, was sufficient to cause significant pollution or the animal health problems on the farm. The farmer involved had certain difficulties with some aspects of one of the reports in particular, and while not disagreeing with its factual and technical aspects, he did not accept its interpretation and emphasis. My officials recently met with him and his private veterinary practitioners to discuss the draft report and it is expected to have the report finalised shortly.

Apart from the foregoing, my Department and others have been involved in a number of other initiatives on this farm. For example, a herd health programme was developed by the farmer's private veterinary practitioners and supported by my Department to deal with respiratory disease in calves and mastitis in cows. The Department also funded treatment for mastitis, a vaccination programme, the provision of calf hutches to segregate the calves from each other and feeding trials. Other areas included developing a grassland management plan, monitoring growth of calves at grass, checking sources of water to the farm, monitoring blood for clinical pathology parameters and specific elements as appropriate, as well as animal disease monitoring back-up.

Following finalisation of these reports in 2006, the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, met a delegation of interests which included the farmer in July 2006 and confirmed that the authorities were more than willing to continue to seek to get to the root of the problems. She also met with the director of the EPA to discuss a report it had produced on the environmental impact of emissions, particularly fluoride, associated with the brick factory. Arising from this, in 2006 the Minister commissioned the CVERA, based at UCD, to conduct a further thorough and comprehensive study. The CVERA study is designed to complement the work done to date and will use some different approaches to investigate the production problems on the farm. This study entails a major sampling and testing programme as well as epidemiological studies that are seeking to establish a pattern in time and space and investigations into the competency of different metabolic pathways. In addition, a comprehensive and detailed soil survey is included in the remit of the study. This CVERA investigation, which commenced in late 2006, is ongoing and has the full support of the farmer.

As referred to by the Deputy, the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament visited Ireland earlier this year and dealt with a complaint from the farmer in question. To my knowledge, this committee does not have any particular scientific expertise but its report nevertheless contained certain important findings. We do not necessarily accept that many of these are supported by the findings to date from the studies by the various agencies. In particular we reject any assertion that we have been remiss in our investigations, given their extensive nature, as I have outlined. During the visit, the Department's deputy chief veterinary officer and the relevant agencies met with the delegation and briefed it on developments to date with regard to investigations both current and past, but these are not fully reflected in the committee's report.

I would emphasise that both I and my Department as well as the other agencies involved are determined to continue to seek to establish the underlying cause of the problems on this farm. This can best be done by further scientific investigations. In my view, the CVERA investigation currently being undertaken is both scientific and robust, as well as being thorough and comprehensive in the areas being examined. It would be inappropriate to speculate on its outcome until such time as the wide range of tests has been completed, the results collated and analysed and any firm scientific conclusions drawn. I am hopeful, however, that when this report is finalised in the next few months it will shed further light on the issues involved.

See this speech in context