The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is countenancing Ireland’s envisaged TB implementation group comprising representatives from farm stakeholder groups and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) only.

“If organisations such as Bord Bia, Ornua, Meat Industry Ireland (MII) and the Irish Wildlife Trust want to get involved at the implementation level, then they will have to get their cheque books out,” stressed the association’s animal health chairman Pat Farrell.

“Up to now farmers and the Department of Agriculture are the only two groups that have been paying into the TB eradication budget,” he said.

According to Farrell, the implementation group will receive recommendations from separate scientific and finance working parties over the coming months. These discussions will take place independent of TB Forum meetings.

The IFA representative continued:

We can’t ignore the science.

Cost to farmers

Where future TB eradication funding is concerned, Farrell said that farmers are already paying €55 million into the kitty.

“This is made up of a €20 million contribution from farmers in terms of the labour required to facilitate herd test taking place at all. On some farms, a full week’s work is required to complete a test.

“The other €35 million comprises the monies paid by farmers to cover the veterinary component of the testing process.”

Farrell believes that the farmer should not be expected to put any more money into the TB eradication fund.

“In fact, the opposite should be the case. The cost of the current eradication programme works out at just short of €100 million per annum,” he added.

“This is a drop in the ocean when compared with the monies the exchequer receives from the exports and employment generated by the Irish beef industry.

In my opinion, farmers should not be expected to support the funding of the TB eradication programme at all.

ICSA involvement

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) will also be actively involved in the TB implementation process.

The association’s animal health committee chairman Hugh Farrell expressed his annoyance at the tone set by the most recent public statement on TB eradication by agriculture minister Charlie McConalogue.

The minister’s announcement might lead people to believe that a detailed strategy on TB eradication has been agreed.

“This is far from the case. The only issue that stakeholders have agreed on is the over-arching principle that bovine TB must be eradicated.

“There is so much details yet to be settled,” he added.

Farrell specifically highlighted the fact that reactor cattle are remaining on farm for up to five weeks after a test.

This time period must be reduced drastically. What’s more, this is an issue that farmers have no control over.

Where funding is concerned, the ICSA representative made it clear that farmers will not be putting one more euro into the pot.

“In Northern Ireland, farmers make no financial contribution at all to TB eradication,” he concluded.