Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

The bovine TB eradication programme includes a comprehensive range of measures aimed at eradicating TB from the cattle population in Ireland through testing and the control of cattle movements in order to prevent the spread of disease. More specifically, the programme provides for the mandatory annual testing of all cattle in the national herd, the implementation of a range of supplementary tests and the restriction of herds where TB is disclosed or suspected.

With regard to restrictions on holdings which adjoin a holding containing a herd which has disclosed TB, my Department has implemented what is known as a contiguous testing programme for the past 30 years. Under this programme, herdowners whose herds are adjoining a holding where a high-risk TB breakdown has been disclosed, usually involving more than one reactor, are required to have their herd tested if it has not been tested within the preceding four months. Herdowners whose holding adjoins a holding experiencing a low-risk breakdown, usually involving a single reactor, are informed of the breakdown in the neighbouring herd and are advised of the precautions to take but are not required to have their herd tested.

The eradication programme is reviewed on an ongoing basis by my Department in light of experience and research. Following a review conducted on the programme last year, my Department introduced a number of changes to ensure the programme addressed all potential sources of infection and to prevent the spread of disease from infected herds to clear herds. These changes, which were made following a number of consultation meetings with the farming organisations, are in the first instance based on research demonstrating there are increased risks attached to the movement of certain animals and second, are designed to protect clear herds from buying in high-risk animals. For example, research has shown the TB risk relating to animals that move out of herds which have been identified as contiguous to a herd experiencing an active high-risk TB breakdown is almost three times greater than the risk in the case of herds tested on a round test.

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The only change which my Department has made to the arrangements relating to the testing of neighbouring or contiguous herds is that herds adjoining a high-risk breakdown are now being trade-restricted, except to slaughter, pending a TB test. They will, however, be permitted to buy in cattle for a short period while awaiting a test. Previously, such herds were permitted to sell cattle on the open market prior to carrying out the test and research had shown that this posed a risk to clear herds. The objective of the restriction is to protect clear herds from buying in infected animals from these herds and thereby avoid the clear herd being restricted for four months and the associated additional testing.

I have clarified the trade restriction only applies to those herds which are identified, following an epidemiological investigation by my Department, as being relevant to the breakdown herd and which have not been tested in the previous four months. Herdowners will be contacted by my Department prior to restriction and only those herds which, on a case-by-case consideration, are identified as genuinely relevant to the breakdown will be restricted. Those farmers whose herds are restricted can minimise any impact by arranging to have their herds tested as soon as possible. Any herd which tests clear will be immediately de-restricted.

I also wish to clarify the choice of four months as the benchmark period under this programme is not new and is part of the existing EU co-funded programme. The four-month period is related to the time interval from when an animal may be exposed to infection and the expectation that a test will give a positive result if the animal is infected. Finally, I believe the restriction on contiguous herds pending a test should have a very limited effect on trade in cattle. In effect, it is only those herds in which TB is disclosed that will be restricted for any significant period of time.

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