Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

The bovine TB eradication programme includes a comprehensive range of measures, including the mandatory annual testing of all cattle in the national herd, the early removal of reactors, implementation of a range of supplementary tests such as post-derestriction and contiguous tests, a wildlife programme, the use of the gamma interferon test as an adjunct to the tuberculin test in problem herds and the depopulation of infected herds in some cases.

These measures have proven to be relatively effective in recent years as evidenced by the significant reduction in disease levels over the past decade. For example, herd incidence has fallen from 7.53% in 2000 to 4.18% last year and reactor numbers in 2011 were, at 18,500, the lowest recorded since the commencement of the programme in the 1950s. Reactor numbers and herd incidence continued to fall in 2011.

The eradication programme is scientifically based and my Department, together with the EU Commission which co-funds the programme, continues to monitor and review the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme on an ongoing basis with a view to the eventual eradication of the disease. In this context, notwithstanding the fact that the existing programme has contributed to a significant reduction in the incidence of bovine TB, my Department believes that, for eradication to become a reality, it is necessary to continually improve the programme in order to address all potential sources of infection, including from neighbouring herds, the movement of high risk animals and to ensure that testing is conducted in a timely manner. Thus, greater emphasis is being laid on ensuring all herds test on time and on reducing movement opportunities for potentially infected cattle so as to provide increased protection for clear herds and export markets. With this in mind, my Department introduced a number of changes to the TB programme earlier this year to tighten up on overdue testing and, in particular, to prevent the spread of disease from infected herds to clear herds. These changes were made following a number of consultation meetings with the farming organisations.

The changes are based on research which demonstrates that there are increased risks attached to the movement of certain animals and are designed to protect clear herds from buying in high risk animals. For example, research has shown that standard inconclusive reactors which passed the retest and moved out of the herd were, subsequent to passing the test, 12 times more likely to be TB positive at the subsequent test or at slaughter as compared with all other animals in the herd. The same increased risk did not apply to the non-inconclusive animals that moved out of the same herds at the same time. For this reason, my Department has decided to limit the movement of these higher risk individual animals from the herd of disclosure for the duration of their lifetime, except to slaughter or in exceptional cases to a feedlot.

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Furthermore, with regard to the new controls on the movement of animals out of herds which, following an epidemiological investigation have been identified as contiguous to or neighbouring a herd experiencing an active high risk TB breakdown, research shows that, in 2011, the risk of such herds disclosing TB is almost three times greater than the risk in the case of herds tested on a round test. In view of the fact that contiguous tests were conducted on some 8,000 herds in 2011, involving almost 800,000 animals and resulting in the disclosure of 2,256 reactors, the risk of TB spreading from such herds is very significant.

I am very pleased with the reduction in the herd and animal incidence of TB in recent years. It is essential that this improvement continues. Ensuring that there is a robust testing regime in place and that disease is not spread from infected herds to clear herds are key factors in achieving the goal of eradication and in continuing to secure funding from the EU. My Department will continue to review and make changes to various elements of the programme as deemed necessary.

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