asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state (a) the number of cattle slaughtered in each year since 1945 under the Bovine Tuberculosis Order, 1926, and (b) the number showing clinical signs of tuberculosis, as defined for the purposes of the 1926 Order, at present in the country.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Bovine Tuberculosis Order.
As regards (a), my Department's records in this matter relate to financial years, and I trust that particulars on this basis for the period from the 1st April, 1945, to the 31st March, 1957, will be acceptable to the Deputy. The reply is in the form of a tabular statement, and I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to have it circulated in the Official Report.
As regards (b), it would not be possible to procure this information without an individual veterinary examination of every bovine in the country. Based, however, on experience of the operation of the Bovine Tuberculosis Order of 1926 and the bovine tuberculosis eradication scheme in the country, a reasonable estimate of the incidence of clinical tuberculosis in cows in the country would be .8 per cent—equivalent to approximately 10,000 cows. The incidence of clinical tuberculosis in other classes of stock would be negligible.
BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS ORDER, 1926
Animals slaughtered each year since 1st April, 1945.
|
Year |
Number of Animals Slaughtered |
|
1/4/45 to 31/3/46 |
1,017 |
|
1/4/46 ,, 31/3/47 |
851 |
|
1/4/47 ,, 31/3/48 |
855 |
|
1/4/48 ,, 31/3/49 |
738 |
|
1/4/49 ,, 31/3/50 |
1,054 |
|
1/4/50 ,, 31/3/51 |
1,140 |
|
1/4/51 ,, 31/3/52 |
951 |
|
1/4/52 ,, 31/3/53 |
725 |
|
1/4/53 ,, 31/3/54 |
853 |
|
1/4/54 ,, 31/3/55 |
1,102 |
|
1/4/55 ,, 31/3/56 |
898 |
|
1/4/56 ,, 31/3/57 |
718 |
Would I be correct in saying that the average slaughter over the past eight financial years under the Bovine Tuberculosis Order referred to in the question is negligible because the fact is that the numbers of cases of clinical tuberculosis in cattle now subsisting are practically nil?
That is not true. As I told the Deputy, it has been estimated that the clinical cases are .8 per cent. of the cows, and that is almost one cow in 100. That one cow in 100, if left there for another few years, could infect a great number of cows and a great number of other stock.
Does the Minister expect and hope to capture the bulk of these cows in the current financial year?
We intend to deal with them as quickly as we can. I would like to see them delivered next week. As the Deputy is aware, under the Tuberculosis Order, 1926, the local veterinary authorities had to report and to have removed these clinical cases. The amount of compensation was limited and as a result, I suppose, of the reluctance of the farmer to disclose these open cases and the reluctance, perhaps, of the veterinary authorities to press the Order to its conclusion, a very small number have come forward. As the Deputy will see when he reads the tabular statement, it was only 718 last year.
Might I suggest to the Minister that if his Estimate is well-founded, he or his successor should consider incorporating in the Bill which will soon come before the House, and under which it is proposed to give compulsory powers in respect of tuberculosis eradication, a power to remove open cases of clinical tuberculosis of this character all over the country as distinguished from the intensive areas to which the Bill will otherwise apply?
In fact power to order removal by the local veterinary authorities exists and has existed since 1926. What it is proposed to do is to encourage veterinary authorities all over the country to urge the farmers in their own interests and in the national interest to cash in these cows which are a source of infection for all the stock on the farm. As I pointed out recently, we have the intensive eradication scheme in only two areas. We have had the pre-intensive scheme in another few areas, and the other 16 areas, including the worst areas in the country containing the biggest percentage of these open cases, remain untouched. Until we get around to them we want to get rid of these open cases, the most virulent source of infection, as quickly as possible.
Does the Minister think in respect of this type of case——
The Deputy may not enter the realms of argument.
I am suggesting to the Minister, if the numbers are such as he has described, that in respect of the Bill which is shortly to be introduced, he should consider whether it would not be appropriate to invest the eradication authorities with compulsory power to deal with this type of clinical case in all counties as distinguished from the compulsory power to deal with reactors in the two intensive areas which was originally contemplated.
The question as to whether it is necessary to amend the 1926 Order is one of the points under examination.