Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
592. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of the rate of use of vaccination and microchipping of badgers under the TB Eradication Programme per annum over the lifetime of the project to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24325/23]
View answer595. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current resources assigned to the badger culling programme and the badger vaccination programme, and their assigned geographical area and rate of culling and vaccination completed in each area over the last five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24328/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 592 and 595 together.
There are approximately 54 full time equivalent (FTE) DAFM technical officers working on the wildlife programme across the country, working primarily from the Department's regional veterinary offices. In addition there are also 2 FTE veterinary staff working on the programme, with support from regional veterinary staff assisting with vaccination, microchipping and examinations amongst other requirements. My Department also ran a tender competition in 2022 for services relating to the wildlife programme in which the successful tenderer supplies staff to assist the technical and veterinary officers of my Department with the requirements of the wildlife programme.
The country is divided into removal and vaccination zones, with more and more of the country turned over to vaccine year on year. The table below gives the number of badgers captured in the removal zones and those captured for vaccination in the vaccine zones from 2019 - 2022.
|
Year |
Removal Zone |
Vaccination Zone |
Total |
|
2019 |
5,254 |
1,937 |
7,191 |
|
2020 |
4,382 |
4,698 |
9,080 |
|
2021 |
5,800 |
6,586 |
12,386 |
|
2022 |
5,199 |
7,244 |
12,443 |
|
Total |
20,635 |
20,465 |
41,100 |
