asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will outline the cost of the TB and brucellosis eradication programme to farmers for each of the years 1979 up to and including 1985 including the farmers' contribution to the scheme by way of levies.
Written Answers. - Disease Eradication Schemes.
32.
Farmers' contributions to the disease eradication schemes by way of levies for the years from their introduction in 1979 up to and including 1985 were as follows: 1979, £1.6 million; 1980, £11.1 million; 1981, £1.8 million; 1982, £0.030 million; 1983, £0.016 million; 1984, £5.872 million; 1985, £13.080 million.
When either TB or brucellosis occurs, the herdowner is also liable to incur some financial loss. As the position varies from one herd to another, however, it is not possible to quantify the overall position. The grants available are, of course, designed to compensate the herdowners concerned as far as possible. Herdowners also bear the cost of pre-movement testing. The question of costs must be seen in the context of the substantial Exchequer contribution to the schemes since their inception — some £280 million — and to the adverse consequences, in the absence of the schemes, for our exports of cattle, beef, milk and milk products, estimated at £1.19 billion in 1985.