Vol. 235 No. 7
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if in addition to the scheme of brucellosis eradication being carried out in certain counties he is prepared to give some assistance to herdowners outside these counties who are anxious to rid their own herds of this disease.
22.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if, in view of the fact that reactors to the brucellosis test are being freely sold in the counties that are not yet in the scheme, he will devise a scheme whereby his Department will purchase such reactors in the same way as was done in the case of reactors under the bovine tuberculosis eradication scheme.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 22 together.
I fully appreciate the difficulties for those herdowners outside the clearance area who find that they have brucellosis infection in their herds. While my Department has been examining the prospects of giving some assistance in disposing of infected animals for slaughter, it has not yet been found possible to devise a practicable scheme.
The Brucellosis (Certified) Herds Scheme is at present open to herdowners whose herds have been tested and found free of the disease. Once a herd is accepted under the scheme all further testing is free and any reactor discovered is taken up at full market value for slaughter.
Is the Minister aware that if a herd becomes affected in Westmeath or any county outside the eradication area, the owner of the cattle may call a public auction, sell all the infected cows and spread the disease to perhaps ten, 15 or 20 counties, wherever the cattle go? It has happened already in County Westmeath, that a man whose herd was affected put the whole lot up for auction; buyers came from all over Ireland, and he has spread the disease.
Would the Minister agree the proper way to eradicate brucellosis, when a few counties are in the clearance area, is to allow a man who has infected cattle down in Cavan or Monaghan to bring them into Meath for sale? That is spreading the disease rather than eradicating it?
It is all very well to talk about the imperfections of a very big and important scheme, but if we did not have the scheme, there would be nobody finding any fault. It is a difficult job; we are trying to eliminate the imperfections, and nobody will be happier than I when we have done that.
Is the Minister aware of the number of people affected with undulant fever as a result of drinking milk from infected herds?
21.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries when Cork County will be declared a brucellosis free area.
Under the Brucellosis Eradication Programme, the eradication scheme would be introduced in Cork and other southern counties within a few years. It would not be possible to forecast at this stage when Cork could be formally declared free of brucellosis.
The premature introduction of eradication measures in the south would not only be extremely costly but would cause serious inconvenience to herdowners. This is because of the widespread use of live vaccine there in recent years and the consequent impossibility of deciding whether an animal reacting to the test has the disease or is reacting only because of the use of live vaccine. This major difficulty will of course pass over the next few years and in the meantime I am considering the possibility of arrangements to encourage the use of the new "killed" vaccine on breeding heifers which does not produce the reaction to which I have referred.
