I very much appreciate the opportunity to raise on the Adjournment debate an issue which, I am advised, is now of extreme urgency.
A huge crisis confronts agricultural show societies in Ireland. Everybody in the House would realise that since the previous century cattle shows have been a feature of the Irish rural landscape and in many areas they are indeed the principal farmer related event of the year. There is now a real doubt as to whether these shows will be able to take place at all unless the Minister is prepared to agree to a special bovine TB testing arrangement for cattle being exhibited at shows.
The background to the problem concerns the dispute with the veterinary profession about bovine TB testing. As a consequence of the dispute there was no formal round of testing last year. I am advised that while some testing did take place it involved a small percentage of the herds in the country. In normal circumstances an animal being exhibited at a show would have been tested as part of the herd test in the previous year and an individual test would be sufficient to clear the animal to be brought to the show in question. Because there was virtually no herd testing last year, an individual private test will not under the present system suffice and an exhibitor would have to test his entire herd before one of those animals would be released for exhibition purposes. Most exhibitors, whose herds in some instances run into some hundreds of animals, will not do this and as a consequence animals are not being entered for the shows. Exhibitors are not prepared to test perhaps a couple of hundred animals to release just one animal for entry in a local show.
The problem is only now coming to light because the cycle of shows is only just beginning. For example, the show in my own town, the Bandon show, is held on Ascension Thursday at the end of the month and entries for the show close early next week. Normally about 200 cattle would be entered for that show but entries to date number about half a dozen. I understand that the Midleton show, which is also being held in May, has a similar problem. Undoubtedly, the same difficulty will surface for all of the other shows throughout the country as the year goes on. I am told that the normal time of the year during which agricultural shows are being run is from the end of May until October, when the last show in the country is held in Ballinasloe. There are more than 100 show societies in the country. At most of them cattle are exhibited and all of these are now at risk because of the problems arising from the bovine TB testing dispute, which has not yet been resolved.
As I understand it — and I have spoken about the issue to several veterinarians today — the solution to the problem would be for the Minister to authorise the private testing of animals to be exhibited at shows on the basis that a clear test would allow the issue of a special permit for exhibition only. Of course, that permit would not apply for normal sale or transfer to other herds; it would apply to exhibition only. I am told that unless the Minister for Agriculture and Food is prepared to recognise the extent of the crisis and accede to my plea on behalf of the show societies by way of the proposal outlined, or something similar, the outlook for all show societies for the current year will be very bleak indeed. It is no use for the Minister to tell me that the end of the dispute with veterinarians is in sight; I have been told by veterinarians today that there is still some way to go. In any event that would not solve the problem as associated difficulties would present themselves.
I hope that the Minister, who is a countryman like myself, will recognise the extent of the problem, will recognise the huge contribution that agricultural shows have made to agriculture over the years in relation to the raising of standards and so on, and will ensure that the problem is met head on and that shows may continue this year as heretofore.
