The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has been accused of making “no progress” in dealing with what has been described as critical issues in the bovine tuberculosis (TB) programme.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said today (Monday, November 20) that there is mounting farmer “anger and frustration” particularly in relation to the Wildlife Control Programme and TB.
IFA Animal Health chair, TJ Maher, said despite increased funding allocated to the programme over the past two years there had a lack of progress in putting additional staff on the ground to implement the programme.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has repeatedly said that he is “acutely aware of the financial and emotional trauma” of a TB breakdown on a family farm.
But Maher said it was “infuriating to farmers” to hear the minister refer to “a difficult decision and threaten more controls” when it came to TB because “he and his department are failing to implement the current programme in a cohesive and effective manner throughout the country”.
Both the IFA and the Irish Cattle and and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) have strongly rejected a proposal put forward at a recent meeting of the TB Forum’s Scientific Working Group that different TB rules for different parts of the country could be implemented.
TB testing system
ICSA Animal Health and Welfare chair, Hugh Farrell, told Agriland that this proposal was “not an option in any shape or form”.
Farrell said members of his organisation are also frustrated by the “one size fits all” approach to the ongoing issues.
“The current TB testing system isn’t working for farmers and what is happening is that farmers are now living in fear of TB, they can’t afford the fallout from a TB lockdown.
“What DAFM needs to have is a change in attitude when it comes to farmers and TB – it also needs to remove reactors on time and it needs the proper staff in place to support the Wildlife Control Programme,” he said.
According to the IFA, DAFM also needs to “be honest” with farmers about this programme.
Maher said: “We were continually told how well the Wildlife Programme was being implemented since it commenced in 2002, yet when DAFM finally agreed to resurvey capture areas, an additional 3,000 sets were identified within existing capture areas in the first few months of resurveying.”
The IFA Animal Health chair said that farmers were yet to see commitments made in relation to both the implementation of the programme and associated staffing levels come to fruition.
“The Minister for Agriculture has provided an increased funding allocation to the Wildlife Control Programme which includes an additional 26 Farm Relief Service (FRS) operatives.
“Not only have we not seen the extra operatives, vacancies around the country have led to farmers not having a programme implemented around TB outbreaks for months on end, if at all.
“This is unacceptable and must be addressed as a matter of urgency if the minister is really serious about reducing the levels of TB,” Maher added.