Please see the table below with regards to vaccinations in Wicklow from 2013 to 2023.
|
Year
|
Wicklow vacciinations
|
|
2013
|
0
|
|
2014
|
0
|
|
2015
|
0
|
|
2016
|
0
|
|
2017
|
0
|
|
2018
|
0
|
|
2019
|
29
|
|
2020
|
46
|
|
2021
|
70
|
|
2022
|
181
|
|
2023
|
180
|
Regarding your query on the total spend on vaccination in County Wicklow over the ten year period, it would not be possible to accurately provide a county specific expenditure report due to the structure in place around the badger vaccination programme, the travel expenses, consumables and contractor costs can not be limited to Wicklow only.
I do want to reiterate that my Department is fully committed to the wildlife programme and in 2023 spent over €7.6 million euro expanding the vaccination of badgers, implementing the capture scheme as well as continuing the identification of setts across the country.
As part of the national TB Eradication Programme, there are numerous studies and research projects into the causes of TB in livestock. This work is undertaken to provide scientific information to inform policy decision-making.
All TB scientific research assignments undertaken as part of the TB Eradication Programme are carefully defined and driven by a specific TB-related research question.
My Department commissions various bodies to carry out TB research projects. The main body that is commissioned by my Department is University College Dublin's Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis (UCD CVERA) which conducts research for the control and eradication of regulatory animal diseases, which includes the national TB Eradication Programme.
Badger vaccination is now an integral part of the Irish TB Eradication Programme. This follows over 15 years of research work using BCG vaccine to prevent tuberculosis infection in badgers, and scientific trials carried out between 2013 and 2017 that show that vaccination is no less effective than culling.
Badger vaccination is thus being substituted for continued culling of badgers such that a significant reduction in the numbers of badgers culled can be achieved over the coming years while still maintaining effective control of the risk posed to cattle.
I am committed to reducing TB incidence rates across the country. There is a terrible financial and emotional pain associated with a TB breakdown. We have made good strides since I launched the new TB Strategy in 2021 with all stakeholders working collectively and collegiately to reduce TB rates. We must keep this going with the ultimate aim of eradicating TB from the herd.
