The main purpose of the Bill is to provide a legal basis for the payment of levies on cattle exported from the State direct to the Minister rather than to the Revenue Commissioners, as agents of the Minister, who subsequently transmit the amounts collected to the Minister. The proposed Bill also includes a number of other technical adjustments and measures to increase fines under the Diseases of Animals Act, 1966.
Bovine disease levies were introduced under the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Act, 1979, to require the farming community to make a financial contribution to the cost of the TB and brucellosis eradication programmes. Under this Act, inter alia, a levy was imposed on all bovine animals slaughtered in the State, on live exports from the State and on each gallon of milk delivered for processing.
Currently farmers contribute some £28 million annually by way of levy to the operational cost of the bovine TB and brucellosis programmes. The Exchequer carries the balance of the operational costs as well as the costs of salaries of administrative, veterinary, technical, laboratory and clerical staff.
The 1979 Act provides for the collection of the levy by the Revenue Commissioners in respect of live exports. On completion of the single European market, revenue personnel were withdrawn from the export points and alternative administrative arrangements were required to collect levies on live exports.
The proposed amendments do not involve any change in the rates of levy and are essentially of a technical nature to provide for a legal basis for the payment of levies on live exports to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry rather than to the Revenue Commissioners, who acted as agents for the Minister.
There are also a number of technical adjustments to improve the supervision and inspection of the levy system. These are the extension of the definition of an accountable person to include a person by whom or on whose behalf an animal is being exported live from the State; the removal of the exemption in regard to the keeping of records by a person by whom or on whose behalf an animal is being exported live; and the inspection and removal of such records by an authorised officer of the Minister.
Provision is also being made for increased maximum fines on summary conviction for offences under the disease levies legislation from £500 to £1,500. I am also taking this opportunity to increase fines in respect of certain offences under sections 48 and 49 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1966. These fines were last increased under section 23 of the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Act, 1979. The proposed increases are from £500 to £1,500 in respect of a summary conviction, from £2,000 to £10,000 in respect of a conviction on indictment in respect of specified offences, and from £1,000 to £5,000 in respect of other indictable offences.
Although it is not related to the current Bill before the House, I would like to take this opportunity to apprise Senators in broad outline of the proposed restructuring of the bovine TB and brucellosis eradication programmes. The bovine TB eradication scheme has been in operation since 1954. The scheme succeeded in reducing the endemic levels of disease in the national herd to an animal incidence of less than 1 per cent. At present some 99.5 per cent of cattle are free of TB. The country was declared officially brucellosis free in April 1986, and currently 99.7 per cent of the country's herds are free of the disease.
Since 1954 total expenditure on both schemes has exceeded £1 billion. The total cost of the schemes in 1995 was £67 million, of which about £20 million was spent under each of the headings: testing, compensation, and administration, with the balance on operational aspects.
Since disease levies were introduced, farmers have contributed about £285 million, while £16 million has been received from the EU veterinary fund. Most of the EU funding received relates to the brucellosis scheme rather than the TB scheme, for which we have received minimal EU funding to date.
Unfortunately, despite this major expenditure, we have not made progress in reducing the residual level of TB over the past 30 years. While the country was declared officially brucellosis free in 1986, and notwithstanding various intensive programmes over recent years, there are a number of areas where there is still some infection and over 400 herds were restricted in 1995.
As regards TB, Senators will be aware that under ERAD an intensive testing programme was undertaken over a four year programme aimed at reducing the incidence by 50 per cent. The main conclusion to be drawn from that experience is that eradication is more difficult than had been envisaged. Indeed, the consensus now is that while some progress can be made, final eradication will only be possible when new diagnostic tests, vaccines for wildlife, and movement control arrangements are in place. Pending the development of these to practical field application level, the emphasis must be to contain and hopefully reduce the disease and costs of programmes.
Under current trading rules, it continues to be necessary to operate annual programmes for these diseases which are both costly to farmers and taxpayers and which cause particular difficulties and hardship for some farmers whose herds breakdown. As the House will be aware, the operational aspects of both schemes have remained largely unchanged down through the years. The House will also be aware that a number of attempts have been made to change the testing arrangements, but these were resisted, mainly by the veterinary profession.
Following the IVU's rejection of rotational testing last year, the Minister concluded that the continuation of the status quo, involving ongoing and escalating costs for farmers and taxpayers, was not a realistic option. Consequently, during 1995 he reviewed the measures that should be introduced from 1996 to improve the effectiveness of those measures while at the same time moderating their overall costs.
The review was undertaken initially in consultation with the farming organisations which, together with the Government, provide the funding for the schemes. The outcome of this review was announced in October last. The central aspects of the proposals were as follows: the orderly annual testing of the national herd and/or designated categories of animals, with primary responsibility for arranging testing, negotiating terms and paying for certain tests being devolved to farmers; follow up and focused strategic testing, including use of blood testing in certain circumstances; a quality control programme; a comprehensive programme to expedite the lifting of movement restrictions on certain herds; a comprehensive research programme aimed at preventing TB spread by wildlife; improved epidemiology and feedback to farmers; continuation of research on developing blood tests, vaccines and other technological tools required to improve effectiveness of programmes; a rearrangement of funding, with levies to be substantially reduced and receipts to contribute to compensation on an agreed basis; the establishment of a national forum comprising representatives of the main farming organisations, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, the Department of Finance and the veterinary unions to advise and make recommendations to the Minister on the operation of the schemes and the abolition of the compulsory two month pre-movement test.
The arrangements envisaged a partnership approach to implementing and overseeing the operation of the new arrangements at national and local levels. Farmers would have greater direct involvement and responsibility under revised and more effective measures. In particular, farmers would choose practitioners to carry out the first tests on their herds each year and negotiate and pay practitioners for such work, assist the Department in research work into disease spread by wildlife and have responsibility for protecting their own herds and, in particular, for deciding whether to buy in cattle which have been tested before movement and whether to test them after purchase.
Together with the revised operational arrangements, the Minister proposed an intensification of control measures, a more focused approach to tackling infection, continuation of research and a rearrangement of the financing of the operational aspects of the schemes. As indicated, farmers would engage and pay practitioners directly for the first tests on their herds each year; as these costs have been borne from central funds to which farmers contributed, the disease levies would be reduced to about £10 million a year from the first full year of operation of the new measures. Thereafter, compensation costs would be shared by the Exchequer and farmers. In overall terms, total costs to be borne by farmers would be moderated while some savings would also accrue from the discontinuation of the 60 day compulsory pre-movement testing requirement for internal movement. Apart from there being a reduction in overall costs, there would also be a more equitable burden sharing of costs between farmers; under the current arrangements, levies are borne by farmers who supply milk, who finish cattle and whose cattle are exported live. Under the new regime, all farmers would contribute towards the costs of the measures.
Since November, the proposals have been refined following detailed discussions with the farming bodies and the Irish Veterinary Union. All the main farming bodies have now indicated that they are broadly supportive of the refined proposals while the veterinary union has yet to make its final decision. I am hopeful that the union will cooperate fully with the new regime. The union had very strongly opposed the principle of structured rotation on the grounds that this would involve testing of non-client herds and, in particular, that it could tend to undermine the practice structure. As the new measures envisage that farmers will choose practitioners, this source of difficulty has been addressed.
I do not propose to elaborate further on these arrangements at this stage. I would advise Senators that I anticipate that there will be a further opportunity to debate them more fully in the near future when the required draft regulation to reduce the bovine levies from 1 April next to £2.50 per animal exported or slaughtered and to 0.5p per gallon of milk delivered, will be before this House for approval.
I commend the Bill to the House for approval.