Vol. 472 No. 4
43 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason for the delay in fulfilling his commitment to initiate studies on the badger and TB in counties Monaghan, Donegal, Kilkenny and Cork; and when such studies will be initiated. [23404/96]
Preliminary work on new scientific studies on the role of the badger in the transmission of tuberculosis commenced in counties Monaghan, Donegal and Kilkenny in mid-November and in County Cork a week later. These studies, which in the first instance require very labour-intensive field survey work, were originally scheduled to commence on 1 October. However, due to the temporary development of agricultural officers to meat factories to service essential intervention supervisory requirements arising from the market situation, these projects had to be postponed pro tem.
