Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 11 Dec 2002

Vol. 559 No. 2

Written Answers. - Bovine Diseases.

Gay Mitchell

Question:

48 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the cost of disease eradication schemes for 1970, 1980, 1990, 1999, 2000 and 2001; the number of reactors identified for these years; the percentage this represented of the national herd for those years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25705/02]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The following table sets out the information requested:

Year	Cost ofScheme	Number of TBReactors	Number of BRReactors	CattlePopulation	TB Reactorsas % of NationalHerd	BR Reactorsas % of NationalHerd
	€ m			(Million)
1970	8.1	22,057	10,034	6.0	0.37	0.17
1980	31.0	29,827	39,991	6.9	0.43	0.58
1990	59.2	41,419	2,002	6.9	0.60	0.03
1999	81.7	44,903	4,545	7.6	0.59	0.06
2000	75.5	39,847	3,729	7.0	0.57	0.05
2001	64.0	33,702	3,142	7.1	0.47	0.04

*It is not possible to break down the cost of each scheme between TB and brucellosis due to the fact that the majority of TB tests and the brucellosis tests are undertaken simultaneously.

While the bovine tuberculosis eradication programme operated by my Department is extremely comprehensive, progress towards final eradication has been disappointing. However as the statistics indicate there has been a reduction of more than 5,000 in the number of reactors each year since 1999 and I anticipate a further reduction in 2002. In assessing the level of expenditure on the TB eradication scheme I refer the Deputy to the results of a cost-benefit study undertaken in 1991 that covered the period from 1954 until the establishment of ERAD in 1988. According to the study the total quantified benefits, not including human health benefits, were estimated to amount to 7% of total cattle and milk output in 1988. It also found that the minimum benefits of the scheme were estimated to have exceeded costs by 86% and the rate of return was calculated at 15.5%. Overall, the study suggested that the scheme was highly beneficial for the national economy.

As regards brucellosis I am pleased that as a result of a number of initiatives I introduced in the course of 1999 positive factors are emerging, as the table indicates, to indicate that the incidence of the disease is declining.