Written answers

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Bovine Disease Controls

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he is taking to address the incidence of Bovine TB; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47556/12]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The bovine TB eradication programme includes a comprehensive range of measures, including the mandatory annual testing of all cattle in the national herd, the early removal of reactors, the payment of compensation for cattle removed as reactors, implementation of a range of supplementary tests such as post-derestriction and contiguous tests, a wildlife programme, and the depopulation of infected herds in some cases.

These measures have proven to be relatively effective in recent years as evidenced by the significant reduction in disease levels over the past decade. For example, herd incidence has fallen from 7.5% in 2000 to 4.2% last year and reactor numbers in 2011 were, at 18,500, the lowest recorded since the commencement of the programme in the 1950’s. Reactor numbers and herd incidence have remained at close to 2011 levels this year. I would like to emphasise that the reduction in disease levels has also resulted in considerable savings on disease eradication. For example, expenditure on the TB and Brucellosis eradication schemes has fallen by over €20m or by one third since 2008.

Notwithstanding the difficulty in attributing trends to a single factor, my Department believes that much of the improvement in the TB situation, in recent years, is due the badger removal programme which has been in place for some years now. While the badger culling programme would appear to be very successful here, the long-term objective of my Department is to develop a vaccine for badgers and considerable research has been conducted in collaboration with UCD and the UK Department of Agriculture on the development of such a vaccine. My Department is implementing a number of badger vaccination trials in order to establish the efficacy of the oral vaccine in reducing the level of TB infection in field conditions. If the field trials are successful, badger vaccination will be introduced as part of the eradication programme in due course and this will reduce the need to remove TB infected badgers as TB levels fall in both cattle and badgers. It will be some years, however, before a vaccination programme on a widespread basis is a practicable proposition.

The eradication programme is scientifically based and my Department continues to monitor and review the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme on an on-going basis in light of experience and research. In this context, my Department reviewed the programme last year and concluded that, since the badger constraint was now being effectively addressed, if further progress was to be made, it was necessary to address other potential sources of infection, including from neighbouring herds and the movement of high risk animals. For this reason, my Department introduced a number of changes into the TB programme earlier this year to prevent the spread of disease from infected herds to clear herds and to tighten up on overdue testing. These changes, which were made following a number of consultation meetings with the farming organisations, are designed to protect clear herds from buying in high risk animals and were based on research which demonstrated that there are increased risks attached to the movement of certain animals or being in the vicinity of a TB infected herd.

I am satisfied that these changes have improved the effectiveness of the eradication scheme, particularly by confining the disease to herds where it is originally detected. I am also very pleased with the improvement in the incidence of TB in recent years. Nevertheless, I want to re-affirm that my Department’s ultimate objective is to eradicate the disease and this appears to be a more realistic objective now than at any time in the past. My Department will continue to review and make changes to various elements of the programme as deemed necessary in light of experience.

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