(Limerick West) asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will make a statement on the report of the Committee on Public Expenditure on bovine tuberculosis eradication and on the admission he made in a television programme that funds are inadequate to a point where the scheme cannot function satisfactorily; if the Government propose to allocate adequate funds to the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bovine TB Eradication Scheme.
34.
The report of the Dáil Committee on Public Expenditure on the TB scheme, which was received on 5 November, is under study in my Department. A detailed response to the various points raised in the report will be made when it comes before the House for debate.
While I welcome constructive criticism of the TB eradication programme I feel that in some respects the report may not have taken full account of the complexities and practical difficulties associated with eradication of the disease. There are also important errors of fact in the report.
For example there is no basis whatsoever for the suggestion, underpinning important conclusions in the report, that my Department adjust the interpretation of tests to reflect the financial situation at any particular time. I should also like to assure herdowners that the existing test, when properly used, is fully capable of identifying reactor animals.
The central recommendation of the report, that a new scheme should be drawn up with guaranteed funding over five years and implemented by an executive agency, has many implications which will require careful consideration. The report did not of course identify the extent of the funding required, and it is possible that some of its recommendations may well involve substantial additional expenditure. As the Minister stated on television, it is a matter of regret that the allocation for disease eradication in 1986, which was necessarily limited because of the budgetary situation, did not allow us to undertake the volume of testing we would have wished. Despite the very substantial costs of operating the scheme, every effort will be made to find the necessary resources for an expanded disease eradication programme in 1987.
(Limerick West): I seem to have heard last year and the year before that adequate resources would be provided, but we are still waiting. The Minister will be aware of a recent television programme which showed that in County Longford the incidence of TB is rising continually and now stands at about 12 per cent. Does the Minister agree that what is occurring in Longford and in many other counties is a result of the stop-go policy adopted by this Government in regard to funding and that inconsistent testing is the cause of the widespread incidence of bovine TB?
A question, please.
(Limerick West): Is the Minister aware that inadequate funding and inconsistent testing are causing the spread of the disease?
As a matter of fact, there is a reduction in the incidence of the disease.
(Limerick West): Nobody else believes that.
There is.
I might mention to Deputy Noonan that he is rapidly taking up all the time available with just two questions, while three others remain to be answered.
(Limerick West): Can the Minister give an undertaking to this House and to the farmers that, beginning now, sufficient funds will be made available to enable the scheme to be operated as it should be, to enable the completion of the eradication programme in a very short time?
Yes. We are looking forward to a full round of testing in 1987.
(Limerick West): Can I ask——
You are being unfair to your own colleagues.
(Limerick West): How soon does the Minister think the eradication programme will be completed? He will not answer that.
The Deputy could not answer that.