Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In fact, only last week I addressed a meeting in Tipperary where the hall was packed. It was addressed by persons who have considerable ambition for the agricultural sector, and one of the issues they spoke about was how to produce food - meat, such as beef, or milk - not only in a cost-effective manner but in such a way that one could sell it on to the world market, where there is demand, and get a high price, which Ireland is now demanding and getting all over the world.

The introduction of the industry-led national BVD eradication programme on 1 January 2013 came after a number of years of careful planning by Animal Health Ireland and after the implementation of a voluntary scheme in 2012. This compulsory phase required farmers to tag and test calves born after that date for all breeding herds. Under the programme, where positive results are detected, herds are required to undergo further testing, particularly to clarify the status of the dam of the positive calf. Some 80,000 breeding herds are now participating in the programme, of which approximately 7,200 also took part in the voluntary phase of the programme in 2012.

The experience of the first two years of the BVD eradication programme has been very encouraging. The rate of compliance with the requirement to test for BVD has been almost perfect, with just fractionally less than 100% of calves born in those years having been tested for the disease.

From the outset, Animal Health Ireland has made it clear that the eradication programme will fall into two three-year periods. In the first of these periods, all herds are required to tag and test calves with the aim of achieving negative test status. Negative test status can be achieved by identifying and removing animals that are persistently infected with the BVD virus from herds, or through accumulation of negative test results. Already, more than 4,000 herds that entered the programme in 2012 have achieved negative herd status.

During the second three-year period, the emphasis of the programme will be on monitoring to ensure that herds that have achieved a negative herd status remain free of infection while dealing with remaining herds where infection is still present. It is intended that this monitoring will be available at a reduced cost relative to that available in the first three years of the programme, and it is already the case that herds that have achieved negative herd status can avail of testing at a rate approximately 25% less than that previously required of them. Work is ongoing to investigate alternative methods of monitoring that will offer further cost savings, and it is hoped that these will be available for the 2016 calving season.

The need for continued monitoring is all the more vital in light of the retention by a minority of herd owners of persistently infected animals that have been identified in the programme to date. In addition, while the overall level of engagement by farmers with the programme has been exemplary, the failure of a small number of herd owners to participate poses a further risk to the programme achieving its goals in a timely fashion. My Department is conscious of the financial burden that the testing regime imposes on farmers, but the position is that the presence of persistently infected animals in a herd necessarily reduces the profitability of the herd on an ongoing basis and the eradication programme is designed to remove the source of this income loss on a permanent basis. That is the key. This is a cost factor, a negative cost on farmers. If the disease was eradicated it would improve their profit margins, particularly in light of difficult financial circumstances such as the fall in beef prices in September and October last.

I should express my gratitude to the BVD implementation group for its solid contribution towards the development and management of this eradication programme, which is of great significance to the farming community. I ask the BVD implementation group to renew its efforts in advancing the programme in the course of 2015, as farmers do not want a prolonged or drawn-out programme. My Department will be glad to support the group in the implementation of the additional necessary measures.

Finally, it should be noted that while farmers bear the cost of testing in the programme, and the testing period may appear to some farmers to be unduly long, the end result for farmers is worthwhile because analysis has shown that the annual benefits to farmers of the eradication of BVD are estimated to be in the region of €100 million.

That is a considerable amount of money in the overall context of agriculture. It is all about profitability. It is in everybody's interests to reduce the costs and to make farming more and more profitable. It is of the utmost important that disease is eradicated and that the associated cost is reduced. I accept the point made by Senator Conway and I would be only too glad to meet with Senator Conway to speak about the constituent in question in order to see whether we can help. In terms of the overall good, one cannot focus on one particular individual. The issue relates to the agricultural industry and farmers in general - a considerable number of people. The current approach has been fully backed by the veterinary profession and it is good for agriculture in general and for farmers. That is the reason the testing process is in place.