Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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62. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of persistently infected bovines with BVD here; his plans for same; the number of herds currently restricted due to BVD; and the length of time he plans for the eradication programme to continue in view of the fact that it was initially indicated in 2013 to last for three years of tissue tagging and three years lower intensity surveillance. [41668/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I should emphasise that the National Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) Eradication Programme is an industry led programme delivered by Animal Health Ireland (AHI).  A BVD Implementation Group (BVD IG) was formed in 2011 to take forward the planning and delivery of this programme. This group is comprised of Animal Health Ireland personnel, Veterinary Ireland nominees, farmer representatives and representatives of my Department.

The compulsory phase of the programme was introduced on 1^stJanuary 2013, the legislative basis for this is set out in S.I. No. 30 of 2017 the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Regulations 2017.  This requires that all animals born 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 and the incidence of the disease has declined with the number of persistently infected (PI) animals falling from 0.66% in 2013 to 0.16 % 2016.  The numbers of PI calves fell from 13,877 in 2013 to 3,804 in 2016.  The incidence has fallen further this year to date  to 2,078 representing just 0.1% of calves born in 2017.

While the programme is industry led, my Department provides financial supports to farmers to encourage early disposal of PI animals within approved timeframes.

Testing to date has been by tissue tag  as agreed by the BVD Implementation Group. A decision on future testing arrangements is a matter for this Group. The most recent outputs from modelling work indicates that eradication is achievable by 2020, subject to the early disposal of PI animals.