Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2013
587. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will outline the allocation of Departmental spend year to date in east Wicklow on badger culling for the purposes of eradicating bovine TB in comparison to the same period in east Wicklow in 2012; and if he will provide comparative data for national spending for this purpose. [24302/13]
View answerThe badger removal programme is only one element of a very comprehensive tuberculosis eradication programme but this element has contributed very significantly to the improvement in the Bovine TB situation in Ireland in recent years. This is evidenced by the fact that cattle herd incidence has fallen from 7.5% in 2000 to 4.1% in 2012 and the number of TB reactors has declined from 40,000 to 18,500 during the same period. This is the lowest recorded since the commencement of the TB eradication programme in the 1950s. The low incidence of TB over the past 4 years in particular is encouraging and indicates that the incidence has moved permanently to a new low level. The incidence of TB in 2013 is running at about 10% below the levels recorded in 2012.
With regard to East Wicklow, an enhanced wildlife programme was introduced in that area in 2011 due to higher than average levels of TB in the area. In particular, additional staffing resources were assigned to the regional office to improve delivery of the programme. Information on expenditure on the badger removal programme is not kept in a format which would enable me to provide details of the cost of the programme in East Wicklow. However, there has been a significant improvement in the delivery of the programme since 2010 as evidenced by the fact that the area subject to badger culling increased from 27% in 2010 to 34% in 2012 and the number of badgers removed increased from 22 to 265 in the same period. In addition, notwithstanding that research has shown that there can be a time lag of a number of years between the commencement of a badger removal programme and an evident reduction in herd incidence, herd incidence in East Wicklow has fallen by 38% from 6.9% in April 2011 to 4.3% in April 2013.
I am satisfied that the programme is being implemented effectively in East Wicklow and I am hopeful that we will continue to see a reduction in the incidence of TB in the area into the future.
