James Browne
Question:412. Deputy James Browne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the delays arising from initial animal tagging for TB and the tagged animals' subsequent removal. [40293/17]
View answerTuesday, 26 September 2017
Questions (412)
Written answers
In 2016 the average number of days for reactors to be removed was 27.9 days which is below the legal requirement of 30 days set down in EU legislation. My Department endeavours to have reactors removed from a holding as quickly as possible. However, there are many factors beyond the control of my Department which may delay the removal of reactors. These include delays on the part of the herdowner in accepting a valuation, the need to comply with EU regulations prohibiting the transport of animals in late stages of pregnancy or having recently calved, the medication of animals shortly before the skin test etc. My Department does not believe that such delays constitute a risk to other animals in the herds because farmers are required by law to segregate reactors from the rest of the herd and to take other biosecurity precautions thereby mitigating the risk of the spread of disease.