Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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2547. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of controlled finishing units by county in each of the years 2015 to 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20273/21]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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2548. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of outbreaks of tuberculosis in controlled finishing units by county in each of the years 2015 to 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20274/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2547 and 2548 together.

As part of the TB eradication programme, beef finishing herds who are experiencing a TB restriction and if they meet the necessary criteria, are allowed to avail of a special status, termed “Controlled Finishing Unit (CFU)”. Therefore, a CFU herd cannot experience a new outbreak of TB as it is already restricted for an outbreak of TB. Where a herd meets the criteria to be regarded as a CFU under the programme, a special official supervisory and testing protocol is established. Such herds are not exempted from testing, reactor removal or disinfection requirements.

Restricted CFUs are TB tested at least once a year. This CFU status arrangement allows the delivery of an effective level of disease risk management while controlling the risk of further disease spread in compliance with animal health legislation and enabling business continuity in this particular type of enterprise through the inward movement of cattle. Cattle from CFU herds restricted under the TB Eradication programme are only permitted to move to an EU-approved slaughter plant. My Department does not differentiate CFU herds on the basis of ownership.

Due to the small number of CFUs in some counties, DAFM cannot provide a county-level breakdown for GDPR reasons.

Controlled Finishing Units per year