Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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111. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the bovine viral diarrhoea sampling programme is continuing, given that it was planned to be a three-year programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39880/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The National BVD Eradication Programme is an industry led programme delivered by Animal Health Ireland (AHI). The legislative basis for this is set out in SI 118 of 2014 which requires that all animals with a date of birth on or after 1 January 2013 must be tested for the presence of the BVD virus. Excellent progress has been made on the programme to date with a very high percentage of herds complying with the requirement to test their calves and the incidence of persistently infected (PI) animals falling from 0.67% in 2013 to 0.46 % 2014, with a further reduction anticipated in 2015. However, there are still a relatively small number of farms on which persistently infected animals are being retained.

I should emphasise that the BVD programme is an industry led programme. Nevertheless, my Department provides significant financial supports to farmers to encourage them to dispose of their persistently infected (PI) animals promptly. Details of these supports are available at:

Following consultation with the BVD Implementation Group, earlier this year my Department issued almost 500 restriction notices to non-participating herds, as they had failed to comply with their legal obligation to test their calves for BVD. These notices have led to steady progress being made in reducing the number of retained PI animals. The restriction notices continue to be issued by my Department’s local offices.

My Department also intends to write to herdowners informing them of the risks posed to them by the presence of PI animals on the farms of neighbouring farmers. These notifications will allow neighbouring farms to review their biosecurity generally and to take measures to protect their herds, including ensuring that boundaries are adequate to prevent nose to nose contact and grazing management (particularly of breeding animals) to minimise the likelihood of contact.

The epidemiological modelling work undertaken by AHI indicates that the eradication of BVD is achievable by 2020 provided that farmers remove PI animals in line with veterinary advice.