Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 December 2012
428. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine with regard to TB testing, if the new reactor system is benefitting the control of TB or is there evidence that locking up all neighbours' animals is necessary or is it counterproductive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55613/12]
View answerIn 2012 my Department introduced a number of changes to the TB eradication scheme, the most important of which relate to contiguous testing. The new arrangements for contiguous testing provide that herds which are contiguous to a high risk TB breakdown and which have not had a full herd test within the previous 4 months will be trade restricted pending a full herd test. Such herds will be immediately de-restricted once they pass a TB herd test.
The rationale behind the change is to restrict TB to the area/herd where it is first disclosed and to protect herdowners with clear herds from buying in infected animals. Prior to this change, herdowners were permitted to move animals from their holdings pending the TB test and many farmers took advantage of this to sell on TB infected cattle, bringing down otherwise clear herds. Department statistics show that, in 2011, the risk of moving infected TB animals out of herds which are contiguous to a high risk breakdown is three times greater than in the case of cattle moving from a normal herd.
The change to the contiguous testing programme has been effective in that there has been a significant increase in the incidence of TB in contiguous herds in 2012 compared with 2011, indicating that the new controls are successful in detecting more TB in contiguous herds, thereby preventing infected animals from being moved from these herds to clear herds.
