Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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327. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine notwithstanding the lack of scientific evidence linking badgers to the spread of tuberculosis to cattle, if he will initiate a programme of vaccinating badgers, carried out by his Department's staff and-or volunteers, to replace the cruel badger cull which is destroying badger populations, in view of a recent analysis (details supplied) that has proven the vaccination of badgers to be very cost efficient; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26190/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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There is very considerable scientific evidence of a link between badgers and cattle in the context of the spread of bovine TB. Research conducted over the years by the Department and others has demonstrated that the eradication of bovine TB disease is not a practicable proposition until the issue of the reservoir of infection in badgers, which is seeding infection into the cattle population, is addressed. It is therefore necessary to eradicate TB in both species. In view of this, the comprehensive TB Eradication Programme as implemented by my Department has incorporated a badger removal and population control policy since 2004.

I should emphasise that badgers are only removed in areas where an epidemiological investigation carried out by my Department’s veterinary inspectorate has found that badgers are the likely source of the infection. It is not the case that the badger culling programme is decimating the badger population; on an international scale Ireland is classified as having a medium density population of badgers as opposed to the very low and low densities throughout Europe generally and the medium to very high density levels seen in Great Britain. My Department also monitors the animal welfare aspects of badger capture/culling on a continuous basis and is satisfied that the existing arrangements and procedures result in minimal injury to badgers.

While the current approach to badgers control is cost effective and has contributed significantly to the very significant improvement in the disease situation in recent years, the ultimate objective of my Department is to incorporate badger vaccination into the Irish TB eradication programme. However, this strategy can only be deployed when data are available to ensure that this can be done in an optimally effective and sustainable manner. In view of this, various projects, involving vaccine development and oral-delivery techniques are under way (including in collaboration with the United Kingdom), with a view to developing a viable badger TB-vaccine and vaccination strategy. Considerable progress has already been made and vaccination by individual capture, with injection of human grade BCG vaccine, is already being deployed in 8 areas in the country involving over 8,000 km. A process to measure the efficacy of this strategy is in train, but will take some time to complete.

The timeframe for the implementation of badger vaccination on a national scale will depend on a number of critical factors, notably scientific evidence that badger vaccination is as effective as badger culling in preventing the spread of disease from badgers to cattle, the authorisation of an oral vaccine for badgers under veterinary medicines regulations and the identification of an efficient and effective oral-delivery method for that vaccine. Standard requirements for authorisation necessitates proving that the vaccine and the chosen method of delivery fulfils criteria relating to safety, including safety in non-target species, efficacy, including duration of immunity, and quality. As stated above, my Department is working very closely with DEFRA in the UK with a view to progressing these issues and is advancing the licensing process and the eight area vaccination programme in parallel. I expect that significant progress can be made towards delivery of a fully authorised oral badger vaccine over the next 3 years.