Bovine Disease Controls

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 September 2015

Thursday, 24 September 2015

Ceisteanna (111)

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

111. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who sought financial support to dispose of their persistently infected calves under the bovine viral diarrhoea eradication programme in 2014, who have yet to receive payment; the value and the number of farmers involved in dairy and suckler herds, respectively; the current time delay in issuing payment and the reason for same; the corresponding figures for 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32614/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The objective of the BVD Compensation Programme is to incentivise the culling of persistently infected (PI) calves. A payment of €120 is made for each persistently infected beef breed calf born in 2014 and removed to a knackery with a recorded date of death on my Department’s AIM database. A payment of €75 is made for the second and each subsequent PI female dairy breed calf born in 2014 and removed to a knackery with a recorded date of death on the AIM system. My Department received 2,763 applications for compensation on beef breed animals and 483 applications for compensation on dairy breed animals in respect of 2014. Final validation of the applications is currently underway and payments will shortly commence for both categories of animals. My Department has currently issued 3,211 beef breed applications under the BVD Programme for 2015 of which 1,581 applications have been returned by farmers. In the case of dairy breed animals, 335 applications have been returned from the 995 applications issued.