I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. In introducing this measure to the House, it is hardly necessary for me to stress the importance and the magnitude of the task which confronts us in the eradication of bovine tuberculosis. This is, I think, fully appreciated by Deputies on all sides of the House and has been endorsed by all sections of interested public opinion. I trust that everybody realises that complete eradication will necessarily be an arduous, a fairly long and a very costly job, requiring the full co-operation of every herd-owner in the country.
It is not an impossible job. That has already been amply demonstrated in other countries where the fight against the disease is now well advanced or has been won. In the United States of America the disease has been virtually non-existent for a good many years. Amongst European countries, Sweden and Norway were the first to become tuberculosis-free. Denmark was declared free of the disease in 1953 and Holland in 1956.
In every one of these, however, we find that victory was achieved only by a painstaking campaign lasting over a long number of years. It is probable that the United States has more resources in veterinary personnel and finance at her command than any other country, yet eradication there took over 20 years. Denmark started her campaign as far back as 1898 when it was decreed that all separated milk returned to owners for stock-feeding must be pasteurised. Further compulsory measures were introduced in dairy districts in 1932 and culminated in the complete clearance of the country 21 years later. In Holland which, though little larger in size than the province of Munster, has more veterinary surgeons in practice than we have here, the first step towards the eradication of bovine tuberculosis was taken as long ago as 1913.
Turning nearer home, our minds are now fixed on the probability that Britain will be fully attested as soon as 1960. We sometimes forget that the campaign there has also been a lengthy one. They started in 1935 when a scheme for the attestation of individual herds throughout the country was introduced, but it was not until 1950 that disease clearance on an area basis became possible. The first attested area on the mainland of Britain was declared in 1953. At the end of 1956, there were nearly 7,000,000 cattle in attested herds and attested areas in Britain, representing approximately 68 per cent. of the total.
While the desirability of embarking on the eradication of bovine tuberculosis was never lost sight of, it was not until 1950 that a pilot scheme was undertaken in the parish of Bansha, in County Tipperary, in an effort to ascertain the best approach to the problem as it exists in this country. Later, through the generosity of the United States an allocation from the Grant Counterpart Fund was promised in aid of an eradication scheme.
With this promise the Government of the day was encouraged to lay the foundation of a national scheme and it was decided to make free tuberculin testing and professional advice available to herd-owners generally throughout the country, and to provide additional incentives in three selected areas, namely, County Clare, County Sligo and "Greater Bansha". We in this country have an incentive towards tuberculosis eradication which did not operate in other countries and which should help us to reach success more swiftly. Failure to eradicate means a complete disruption of our economy.
The total number of cattle tested throughout the country by 31st October, 1956, was almost 750,000 contained in some 60,000 herds. Generally the counties of the West and NorthWest have participated most enthusiastically in the scheme and in most of those the incidence of infection was found to be comparatively light. In some other counties, in the East and Midlands, the response has been poor.
Tuberculin testing in itself is not, however, eradiction of bovine tuberculosis. The reactors when found must be got rid of as soon as possible. In order therefore to bring matters to a more practical plane it was decided to concentrate on those counties of the West—Donegal, Roscommon, Leitrim, Mayo, Galway and Kerry—in addition to Clare and Sligo—which promised to give early results. As from the 1st November, 1956, the eradication scheme with the double byre grant was confined to those counties. At the same time, pursuant to representations from the National Farmers' Association, the accredited herds scheme was introduced throughout the whole country.
It is intended to intensify the eradication measures in the western counties I have mentioned and in Cavan and Monaghan at a very early date. The necessary staff is being recruited and four additional provincial offices will be opened. I hope that very soon we can in these areas, start an intensive house to house propaganda campaign and will be in a position to start buying up reactors at full market price from every farmer who has them and who, in his own and the national interest, wants to go ahead realistically.
Before discussing further the progress that has been achieved, I think it well to refer generally to the main problems with which this country has to contend in the matter. I have already said that bovine tuberculosis eradication is going to be expensive. Already it has cost us over £1,250,000; for the current year gross expenditure on all aspects of the programme is estimated to exceed £1,580,000 and there is no doubt but that expenditure will tend to rise still more in the years immediately ahead and will continue until we have broken the back of the problem.
The Government will do all it can in regard to money and the provision of staff but this is essentially a job, the success of which rests on the full co-operation of the farmers. Each individual farmer must realise that unless he tackles his own problem now and works systematically towards the elimination of tuberculosis in his cattle he will have on his hands in three or four years' time stock which cannot be exported.
Another problem, particularly in the breeding areas, is the difficulty that will inevitably be encountered in replacing the large numbers of animals reacting to the test. To surmount this we must bring home to our farmers the urgent and vital need to concentrate on the production of healthy cattle of the right types. The ideal arrangement —at which every farmer must aim— should be the replenishment of his herd from within. As this may not, however, be practicable in every case the progressive herd-owner who produces healthy breeding stock surplus to his own requirements is likely to find a profitable outlet.
Next, there is the question of the general availability of veterinarians. The plain fact is that this country has suffered for many years past from a shortage in this profession. At present there are fewer than 400 private veterinary surgeons in active practice in country areas. This means that there is only one veterinary practitioner available for approximately 11,000 cattle in the country and that, on average, there are only about 15 resident practitioners per county. We have also the problem of some farmers who are reluctant to set about eradication in a positive way. I hope that the growth of public opinion will rectify this. It can do so more effectively than any legislation.
I must seek and secure the co-operation and goodwill of every rural organisation in the country so as to create a public opinion in favour of our effort, one that will secure a realisation of the existence of a real economic danger. I believe that such organisations could exercise a great influence in bringing home to the public the seriousness of the existing situation.
Another fundamental problem is the pasteurisation of separated milk. Some of the co-operative creameries have responded promptly to the generous offer made to them of grants from Marshall Aid Counterpart funds towards the cost of plant for this purpose but others have not reacted as vigorously as I would like. Any eradication campaign, particularly in our dairying districts where the incidence of tuberculosis is at its highest, cannot hope to succeed unless the separated milk that comes back to the farmers for feeding to young stock has been pasteurised. Without this precaution, a single farmer with a single cow giving tuberculous milk can spread the infection throughout the whole area served by his creamery.
I would ask Deputies to study the White Paper which I have circulated. In it they will find both sides of the picture; they will see what has been done already and can visualise to some extent the vast job that lies ahead. The White Paper and the accompanying statistics are comprehensive and there is, therefore, no need for me to detain the House with two much detail, but there are some points which, I think, merit special comment.
Very definite progress has undoubtedly been made in the comparatively short time that the bovine tuberculosis eradication scheme has been in operation. We have now brought over 75,000 herds containing more than 900,000 cattle under the initial tuberculin test. This represents more than 20 per cent. of all the cattle in the country. These tests have given us a clear picture of the incidence of the disease in the country as a whole and in each county. They have shown that about 17 per cent. of the entire cattle population has tuberculosis in one form or another and that while the overall disease incidence in cows is 27 per cent., only 7 per cent. of our stores are infected.
This emphasises that farmers throughout the country can do a very good deal towards elimination of the disease if they will keep the young stock segregated to the greatest possible extent from the more mature animals. If this were done and adequate standards of hygiene observed a spectacular drop in the prevalance of the disease could confidently be anticipated. A very encouraging feature is the fact that 35 per cent. of all herds initially tested throughout the country proved to be entirely free from tuberculosis. The picture is particularly good in this respect in eight counties in the West and North where the proportion of tuberculous animals varies from as low as 6 per cent. down to 4 per cent.
The response to the scheme generally has been outstandingly good in the three special areas—Clare, Sligo and Bansha—where not less than 85 per cent. of all herd-owners have voluntarily participated. This certainly augurs well for their further speedy development. It is also a welcome sign that 53 per cent of the farmers in Kerry are already in the scheme. The incidence of disease is heavy in Kerry as it is in the other dairying counties of the South—Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Waterford. It is in these areas, which contain nearly 50 per cent. of all the cows in the country, that the greatest effort will be necessary. These are key areas and if they can be cleared of the disease the main problem of bovine tuberculosis in this country will have been solved.
The next step in the eradication scheme must therefore be to extend the intensive measures to the other Munster counties, in addition to Clare and Kerry. This will be done as rapidly as is practicable.
It is now necessary to put all our eradication measures on a full statutory basis and to have power to apply compulsion, where necessary, to those farmers who may be lagging behind and thereby negativing all the efforts that their more progressive neighbours are making. It is also necessary to have powers to regulate testing and reactor removal, pasteurisation of separated milk, and the control of markets and transit, etc. This legislation will give an assurance that our most important export market, on whose permanence we are counting, will be served by an increasing flow of cattle which can be officially certified as free of tuberculosis. It is, I feel, seldom that a Bill comes before the House which is of such vital importance to our economy and on which there is so little divergence of opinion as to its need or doubt about its urgency. It is therefore with a feeling of confidence that I commend it to the House.