I propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 80 together.
Following the introduction of the TB eradication scheme, the incidence of bovine tuberculosis was reduced significantly by the mid-1960s However, persistent difficulties have been encountered in achieving further sustained reductions below the levels reached at that time. At the same time some 99.5 per cent of cattle are free of TB and the regime in place facilitates the continued trading of livestock and livestock products to the EU and third countries.
There is general acceptance of the role of the badger in the spread of bovine tuberculosis and a growing body of scientific evidence supports this opinion. In particular, the use of strain typing techniques has identified the same strain of mycobacterium bovis in cattle and badgers in the same locality.
The only valid test currently available for tuberculosis in badgers is a full and extensive post-mortem. To fully research the role of badgers in the spread of bovine TB, my Department, under licences approved by the wildlife service of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, removes a small percentage of the badger population each year. These licences are operated in project areas and at individual farm level in order to research specific outbreaks of disease.
Of the badgers removed from the special project areas, in parts of Donegal, Kilkenny, Cork North and Monaghan, which were initiated in 1997, 24 per cent of those removed in 1998 had confirmed tuberculosis. One of the purposes of this removal is to establish the actual level of infection in a representative sample of the badger population. The removal exercises involved in gathering this data are now largely completed in the project areas.