asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he is aware that the decision to declare five Leinster counties to be a clearance area as from 1st March, 1961, will cause great hardship and inconvenience to those people in Kerry who had hitherto sent their cattle for improvement before export to this area; and if, to ensure that the persons in question will not suffer financial loss, he will give sympathetic consideration to extending the date to later in the present year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Leinster Clearance Area: Kerry Hardship.
19.
I am aware that only attested or once tested cattle can move into a clearance area and that this can occasion some temporary inconvenience for farmers both inside and outside the area. We have done all we can to reduce such inconvenience to the minimum, consistent with the overriding necessity of pushing ahead with the elimination of bovine tuberculosis, but some inconvenience is unavoidable. In view of the urgent need to rid the country of the disease, the course suggested by the Deputy would not be justified.
Seeing that the Minister cannot meet me on this, would he arrange to have the cattle belonging to the farmers in Kerry and West Cork taken over at a price equivalent to that which they would have brought, if the area had not been declared a clearance area?
The Deputy is inviting me to make the area a clearance area and that is a decision I could not make for some time.
Is the Minister aware that the incidence of T.B. in South Kerry and West Cork is much lower than in areas which have been declared clearance areas?
I would be glad to think that is so.
Can the Minister recall that some time ago the two Deputies from South Kerry approached him and asked him to postpone the matter until such time as the farmers in the whole of Kerry and West Cork had disposed of their cattle?
There is no end to the requests that Deputies and other people are entitled to make, requests that if acceded to might bring some temporary advantage to themselves and to the areas they represent. There is a substantial job of work to be done. We know not only the incidence of the disease in any one particular area but we also have a good idea of the incidence of it in every area. The decisions we will make in this regard will be made after full consideration of every factor we can think of and in view of the circumstances from time to time.
Is the Minister aware that the incidence of the disease in the Berehaven area is very low?
We cannot bring out every little spot in the country.
It is not a little spot.