Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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7. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 41 of 27 October 2016 when it is likely that the data necessary to deploy a badger vaccination strategy in an effective and sustainable manner will be available; his views on the delays to date in rolling out such a scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37692/16]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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Badgers, as we know, are a protected species, yet the Department annually culls 6,000 of them in a practice which the Irish Wildlife Trust has described as inhumane and barbaric. The trust has cited many instances of lactating females being culled while their cubs are left to starve underground.

We have long been promised a vaccination programme as an alternative. What is going on? When will it be implemented?

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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As I mentioned in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 41 on 27 October, it is my Department's intention to deploy a full badger vaccination strategy as soon as robust scientific evidence becomes available that demonstrates such a programme is practicable and will deliver an outcome equivalent to the existing wildlife programme. In this context, my Department is involved in a range of research activities with a view to progressing the development of a vaccination system for badgers.

While research has demonstrated that oral vaccination of badgers in a captive environment with the bacillus calmette–guérin vaccine generates high levels of protective immunity against challenge with bovine tuberculosis, field trials are being undertaken by my Department to determine whether vaccination is also effective in the field. A vaccine trial in Kilkenny has been completed and results are expected to be published in 2017. In addition, trials are being conducted in six separate locations throughout the country, involving the vaccination by intramuscular injection of several hundred badgers over three to four years and continual monitoring of the badger population to assess the impact of the vaccine on the incidence of disease in the cattle population. The outcome of these field trials will eventually determine whether the vaccination of badgers delivers an outcome equivalent to the current badger removal strategy. These projects are due to conclude in 2018.

It is also the case that no TB vaccine is currently licensed for anything other than humans in Ireland and any new preparation for badgers would have to be licensed under EU medicines legislation. My Department is collaborating with UCD and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the United Kingdom in carrying out the research needed to prepare a dossier for submission to the licensing authorities in Ireland and the UK for authorisation of a licence for an oral vaccine for badgers. In addition, research is being carried out in Ireland and in the United Kingdom on suitable bait delivery methods for an oral vaccine to ensure that, when such a vaccine is licensed, an effective delivery method is available.

There is no delay in rolling out a vaccination programme. There is currently no vaccine licensed for badgers and my Department is engaged in several research projects with a view to submitting a dossier to the licensing authorities for a licence for an oral vaccine. In addition, my Department is conducting trials to determine whether vaccination is as effective as badger culling in reducing the incidence of TB in cattle and to identify suitable vaccine bait delivery methods. My Department is hopeful that this research will be successful and that a vaccination strategy will be a significant element of the national TB control programme. I emphasise that our ultimate objective is to incorporate badger vaccination into the TB eradication programme when data are available to ensure that it can be incorporated into the programme in an optimally effective and sustainable manner.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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Rabies was eliminated from European foxes using baited vaccine many years ago. The idea that we have been discussing a vaccination programme for badgers for 25 years is quite shocking. The Minister's reply to the effect that it will take us a further two years before we see any progress in this direction is most concerning. This is against the backdrop of firm information to the effect that the badger population and its sustainability are under threat because of the practices in which we have been engaging.

The studies conducted by the Department cover 5% of Ireland's farmland, not a vast area. Meanwhile, the UK has spent over a decade culling badgers. Scientists in the UK have done a gold standard study over ten years. One conclusion of the study was that culling made no meaningful contribution to the control of bovine TB in Britain. Moreover, the study concluded that badger infection follows rather than leads TB infections in cattle.

There is no conclusive evidence that badgers are responsible. If anything, the information is contradictory. While TB has fallen, it is very much linked to other measures as well. We need to look at the sustainability of the badger population. I appeal to the Minister to ensure that we do everything possible to move in the direction that everyone says we need to go.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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There is another side to this debate to which Deputy Daly is blind-sided. It relates to the extraordinary hardship that a TB outbreak brings to the farming community. I know this because I represent the people affected in my constituency. When a dairy, beef or suckler herd is wiped out by TB, farmers, in conjunction with the Department, are most keen to find out whether it was an issue relating to contiguous herds or whether the source was elsewhere. Often, the finger is pointed conclusively at badger sets.

We are not operating in isolation on this matter. We are working with the UK authorities to find out the most effect way to deal with this. We are cognisant of the legislation that gives badgers protected status. However, in the order of priority, I believe the livelihood of farmers and their herds take precedence. We are doing everything possible to work to a situation whereby we can implement a vaccination programme. However, there is no vaccine. I suspect the evidence quoted by Deputy Daly to the effect that there is no link between badgers and TB is not shared by the UK authorities. In fact, I believe there is considerable evidence to the contrary.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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I am very concerned about the livelihood of farmers and would love to see the eradication of TB and welcome the fact that it has declined. The points I make are scientific and backed up by research. The evidence shows that TB has declined for a number of reasons. For example, evidence from a 2015 survey by University College Dublin and indeed members of the Minister's Department describes very clearly instances in which a decline in cattle infection appeared to be directly correlated to badger culling, absolutely, but there were other examples where culling appeared to have little or no effect. In 2011, the Minister's Department found considerable, but not conclusive, evidence of this situation. The matters raised in the UK studies to which I referred come directly from the mouth of the vet who led the study. He said:

Badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to [cattle] control in Britain. Indeed some policies under consideration are likely to make matters worse rather than better.

They are his words. This is a scientific argument. The Minister's Department already agrees that we need to move to vaccination. I argue that should be done, moving mountains to do it as quickly as possible, because the badger population does not have the luxury of waiting.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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There is no stakeholder in this that wants to see a resolution more quickly than the farming community. My Department is not in the slipstream of this either: we are in the vanguard in driving it. However, we must have a rational, scientific basis on which to proceed. In the interim, where badger issues associated with TB outbreaks in particular areas are identified - the Department investigates each individual case and tries to identify its causes - the culling, which is part of the eradication programme at present, will continue. It is our preference to arrive at a scientific rationale for a vaccination programme and a method of administering a practical and effective oral vaccination programme. It would not be money well spent to proceed on any basis other than a rational one. There is a bigger picture to be borne in mind, namely, the enormous hardship associated with TB breakdown. Simply to turn our back on the culling programme while we await the optimum solution would be unwise.