asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state whether an allocation of £600,000 from the National Development Fund for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis in County Limerick was approved on 8th April, 1954, and, if so, the amount of such allocation to be spent in the current financial year, and how, and when it is proposed to spend the balance.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Limerick: Bovine Tuberculosis.
The Government Information Bureau announced on 10th April, 1954, that as the beginning of a comprehensive scheme for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis, the Government had authorised the expenditure of moneys out of the National Development Fund on intensive eradication measures in County Limerick. So far as I can ascertain the sum mentioned by the Deputy was not specifically allocated for the purpose in the approval given by the Minister for Finance on 8th April, 1954.
On further consideration and after discussion with the veterinary profession, I came to the conclusion—which I am convinced was a sound one—that it would not be practicable to initiate intensive measures at that stage in an area such as County Limerick. I therefore arranged that general eradication measures would be applied in County Limerick and that intensive measures would at the outset be applied in County Sligo and County Clare, and also in an area surrounding the parish of Bansha, County Tipperary, where much eradication work had already been done.