Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 844: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will provide details of her latest Department figures on the number of tuberculosis reactors per 1,000 animals tested on a county basis each year from 1997 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24309/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested has been forwarded to the Deputy.

As can be seen from the following tabular statement, while there is some variation at county level, overall the incidence of TB has fallen consistently since 1998 from 4.2 reactors per 1,000 to 2.6 in 2004. The progress made is due to a number of factors, including the continued co-operation from all parties with the eradication regime, the tightening up on illegal cattle movements through the cattle movement monitoring system, the regulation of dealers, prosecutions for breaches and the imposition of penalties for failures to comply with animal disease and identification regulations and the proactive work of my Department's wildlife unit which involves the targeted removal of badgers where they are implicated in an outbreak of TB.

In this regard, the Deputy will recall that I published the results of the four area project in the report entitled "The impact of badger removal on the control of tuberculosis in cattle herds in Ireland" in late 2004, which demonstrated a clear link between the removal of badgers and the incidence of TB in an area. In the longer term, my Department is committed to the development of an effective badger vaccine and the implementation of badger vaccination as a distinct component of the bovine TB eradication programme. The objective would be to reduce disease transmission between infected badgers and susceptible cattle.