The Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) has said it is concerned about “trends in the funding and expenditure” of the Department of Agriculture’s bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication programme.
In a new report published today (Tuesday, November 8) the PAC highlights its concerns about how the “funding mechanism” for the programme has dramatically change since 2015.
It has also sounded a warning that a greater percentage of funding for the BtB eradication programme might have to come from the exchequer and the farming sector in the near future.
According to the PAC the total expenditure on the programme has risen from €82 million in 2015 to €97 million in 2020.
But it said the the “funding mechanism“ for the programme has altered significantly in the same timeframe and reflects a major decline in funding from the European Union (EU) for the programme.
At the beginning of 2021 statistics show that Ireland had the highest bTB levels of all EU member states.
The PAC referred to the rise in the herd incidence rate of bTB as a factor in the consistent reduction in EU co-funding for the bTB eradication programme.
The committee stated:EU funding for the programme was as high as €12.7 million for the 2014 programme, while EU funding for the 2020 programme was reduced to €4.3 million due to a perceived lack of progress towards bTB eradication.
The PAC said that this represents a 66% reduction in EU funding since 2014.
While in contrast it highlighted that exchequer funding for the 2020 bTB programme rose to €57 million, which represents a 44% increase from 2015.
Total expenditure on the programme was also 18% higher in 2020 than in 2015.
The PAC noted that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) 2021 Annual Report outlines that a ” further penalty” is expected to apply to the 2022 bTB programme programme.
It also remarks that EU co-funding for TB programmes is to be “ceased after 2023.”
The committee stressed that it was concerned at these trends in the funding and expenditure of the bTB eradication programme, “particularly as bTB eradication would appear to be even further away than it was in 2016, despite a significant increase in funding from the exchequer.”
Forecasts from DAFM suggest that €1 billion will need to be spent
on the programme over the years 2021 to 2030 “unless significant reductions in disease can be achieved”, according to the PAC.
The committee is warning that this could mean that the exchequer “would be liable for €586 million of the outlay over ten years” while €358 million would be drawn from the farming sector.
The PAC has now recommended that DAFM provides an update to the committee on an annual basis from January 2023 on the “progress achieved in eradicating bovine tuberculosis by 2030”.
It also wants “to see an improvement” in how the department reports expenditure on the bTB eradication programme.