I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter and the Minister of State for being present to reply.
Will the Minister of State honour the agreement with farmers under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness to pay them for independent on-farm live valuation of reactors under the TB and brucellosis schemes? Payment is being refused and valuation inspections only take place where the number of reactors exceeds six. This agreement was made under the PPF and has not been honoured to date by the Government. This is regrettable and many farmers are losing out substantially as a result. This cannot continue at a time when farming is under severe pressure. It adds to the dismal performance of many departmental schemes. It is regrettable that departmental officials are making up the schemes as they go along. The Government's failure is at the expense of the farmer.
Valuation officers are supposed to be independent and capable of making an independent valuation of animals on farms. It is unfortunate their independence has been removed because the Department insists these people operate under weekly price guidelines. That is a restriction which removes their independence. Not only do the guidelines cause frustration for farmers on whose farms inspections and valuations take place, the inspectors must take the brunt of abuse caused by the Government's failure to adhere to the terms of the PPF. This is another failure the Department has managed to lay on another source.
More than 50% of breakdowns in herds take place in one, two or three animals. There is no on-farm live valuation in these cases which means the animals are taken to the factory. As the Minister of State who comes from the west knows, many of these animals are small store cattle or weanlings whose value is almost nil apart from the grant. In other cases they could be suckler cows which also have a very low value placed on them by factories. We know in the majority of cases that farmers are disappointed with the price paid by factories. It is only the grant that gives them any worthwhile compensation in these instances.
The Department also gave an undertaking that wildlife control would be tackled in tandem with the commitment under the PPF and that 27 officers would be appointed to deal with infected wildlife in the area of a herd breakdown. This has not taken place. Advertisements have only been placed in recent days and only the overall scheme rather than the appointments is being put in place at present.
The Government has failed on three counts to honour the commitment given under the terms of the PPF. Will the Minister allow on-farm valuation for all livestock reactors and will he put in place the wildlife control personnel promised? It will not take place until the autumn or winter of this year which means another year will have passed before it will have been implemented.
In addition, it is important the Minister and the Department act on the terrible news from Britain about another suspected case of foot and mouth disease.
