Vol. 548 No. 4
11 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason for the increase in the occurrence of tuberculosis in cattle; his proposal for a radical change in the present control system, in view of the worsening situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4121/02]
Since 1999 the national incidence of bovine tuberculosis has been decreasing. This downward trend continued in 2001 and the provisional data available to my Department indicates that for 2001 the total number of reactors in the country will be less than 34,000 compared with a figure of 39,847 in 2000. The reduction is, in part, due to reduced testing in 2001 because of FMD. However, a direct comparison is possible in the measure of reactor animals disclosed per 1000 animals tested. This reduced to 3.55 in 2001 from 3.9 in 2000.
Nationally, therefore, there is an improvement in the disease situation. However individual counties have improved more than others and some have recorded poorer figures. This is usually due to a blackspot area appearing in the course of the programme and the remainder of the county will often have the improved situation reflected nationally. It is considered that infected wildlife have a role in the spread of disease in many of these blackspot areas and such areas will be targeted by my Department's enhanced wildlife programme in 2002. The Department's research into a vaccine for TB in badgers will continue in 2002 and significant progress under this heading is expected in the next three to five years. Therefore any proposal to radically change the programme will be influenced by scientific and technological developments in the period ahead.
