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Animal Diseases

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

Questions (851)

Matt Carthy

Question:

851. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has a strategy or policy with regard to the eradication of Johne’s disease; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11410/22]

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Written answers

I advise the Deputy that a voluntary Irish Johne's Disease Control Programme is led by Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and supported by stakeholders including my Department, representative farming organisations, ICOS, the milk processors and Veterinary Ireland.

The Johne's Disease Implementation Group in AHI  takes decisions on the most effective measures to deal with the challenge of Johne's Disease.  The Programme provides a suite of effective and on-going disease prevention and containment strategies to control the spread of Johne's Disease in the national herd.

While the programme was initially aimed at dairy herds, now all herds are encouraged to participate in the IJCP.  The science of the JD control programme in Ireland has been guided by the Johne's Disease Technical Working Group of AHI and by disease control modelling. The objectives of the programme are addressed through a combination of risk assessment, voluntary assurance and national surveillance. The IJCP enables participating herd owners to have increasing confidence in the absence of infection in their herds and to achieve significant control or elimination, and it underpins the quality of Irish dairy and beef produce in the international marketplace. The programme provides a long-term approach to the control of JD in Ireland.

Johne’s disease is a bacterial disease of cattle, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculossis (MAP) for which there is no effective treatment. Cattle usually become infected as calves in early life, but this is not detectable until cattle are older.

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