Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the Deputy not being informed about who would respond to this matter. If the response does not answer some of the questions asked, I will certainly bring this back to the Minister and relay the concerns to him.

The bovine viral diarrhoea, BVD, eradication programme undertaken by Animal Health Ireland was developed following an extensive consultation exercise. Animal Health Ireland was assisted in the work by the BVD implementation group comprising its own personnel, Veterinary Ireland nominees, farmer representatives and representatives of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The implementation group was guided by a technical working group of academics and scientists in deciding programme measures. There has been strong input from industry stakeholders, including farmers, since the programme inception, with 91 meetings of the BVD implementation group having taken place.

A voluntary programme was introduced in 2012 and this became compulsory on 1 January 2013. The national compulsory BVD eradication programme came in on 1 January 2013 and from that date it has been a statutory requirement to test all calves and there has been a ban on the sale of calves without a negative result. The Department offers strong support to the BVD eradication programme and provides four Department staff who have manned the BVD helpline since the inception of the compulsory eradication programme in 2013. In addition, Department local offices operate the herd restriction system.

Progress to date under the BVD eradication programme has been excellent, as the Deputy points out, and a very high percentage of herds comply with the requirement to test their calves. The incidence of persistently infected, PI, animals has fallen each year from 0.66 % in 2013, where 13,877 animals tested positive for BVD, to 0.1% in 2017, where 2,390 tested positive. It is a significant drop. The incidence in 2018 has fallen further to 0.05%, where only 901 have tested positive to date. Relative to the position before the programme commenced, it is estimated the reduction in prevalence has generated a net benefit to industry in 2017 alone of €75 million.

One matter that hampered progress in the early years of the eradication programme related to the retention of PI calves. At the request of the BVD implementation group, herds retaining PI animals were restricted and the notification of neighbouring herds in a small number of cases became necessary in order to bring about early disposal of PI animals. Financial supports towards the early removal of persistently infected animals have played an important role in bringing about reduced incidence of the disease. It should be noted that improvements have been made in the BVD financial supports available for animals born in 2017 and 2018, with a significantly higher amount available for early disposal. Financial supports were made available for dairy herds for the first time, including payment in respect of dairy crosses and dairy bulls.

The supports available in 2017 are as follows. For beef herds, a payment of €185 will be available if the animal is removed within 21 days of the first positive or inconclusive test and a payment of €60 is available if the calf is removed between day 22 and 35 of the initial positive or inconclusive test. For dairy herds, a payment of €150 is available if the female dairy and dairy cross calves are removed within 21 days of the first positive or inconclusive test and a payment of €35 is available if the female dairy and dairy cross calves are removed between day 22 and day 25 of the first positive or inconclusive test. A payment of €30 is available towards the cost of disposal of the dairy bull calves within 21 days of the first positive or inconclusive test. Payments in respect of animals born in 2017 are being processed at present, with the bulk of payments made this week.

I thank Animal Health Ireland, the BVD implementation group and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for the excellent progress made in the eradication of BVD from the Irish herd.

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