Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply, but it does not really deal with the issue. There have been cases like the Fleury case in Offaly, the Cavan case and other cases throughout the country where people, farmers in particular, have been dragged through the courts and where the Department and its inspectors make life difficult for them. People have been put out of business over this.

Under natural justice in this country a person is innocent until proven guilty, but my experience when dealing with the Department is that it is the other way around: a person is guilty until he can prove his innocence.

No farmer that I am aware of or any farmer in the country wants TB. All farmers want it out of their herd immediately and they will do everything to co-operate to get it out. I offer a case in point. The veterinary inspector who is now suspended identified 15 animals as TB reactors. The Department decided this was not the case and that there were only nine. Those responsible left the other six in the herd. Then, two months later when they tested the herd there were over 100 reactors in the herd. These cases are not being answered by the Minister or the Department. We have to drag them screaming to get information from them. Will all ongoing investigations be published and made known at least to the people involved or preferably to the general public?

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