The Dáil has heard that compensation levels for farmers that lose cattle through TB need to be increased.
The point was raised yesterday (Thursday, July 14) by Fianna Fáil Cavan-Monaghan TD and former minister for agriculture Brendan Smith.
In a debate with the current minister, Charlie McConalogue, Smith commented: “It’s devastating for a farmer when his or her herd has to be partially or totally depopulated.
“We know that herds are built up over a considerable length of time. There is a big investment and big commitment by the individual farmer, and we do not switch on or off the breeding or development of herds.”
According to Smith, the level of compensation currently available does not reflect the reality of prices that are available in marts.
Minister McConalogue noted that the financial working group of the TB Stakeholder Forum is reviewing the compensation scheme in relation to all types of bovine herds.
Recommendations from this working group will be considered by the wider forum, the minister said.
Smith called on the minister to urge the financial working group to speed up its work, to which the minister replied that he had asked all work of the forum to be completed “as soon as possible”.
He also noted that the financial impact of TB breakdown on pedigree cattle herds would be particularly severe.
Smith said: “I have concerns about the compensation being adequate for pedigree cattle. Those of us who were reared on farms and represent rural communities take great pride in looking at quality animals at our shows every year and in visiting individual farms.
“I have a concern that valuable pedigree lines could be lost,” he warned.
“I know some individual farmers who win national awards every year and would have a number of substantive pedigree herds. If they are unfortunate enough to have a partial or total depopulation, it will mean financial ruin for them.
“We need to address that particular matter. I emphasise again that our farmers have built up quality herds over the years. When disease comes into a herd it is, to use a phrase we have often heard, like a death in the family,” Smith continued.
The Cavan-Monaghan TD argued that the primary producer should be “adequately compensated at all costs”.
Minister McConalogue said that the financial working group of the forum is due to meet later this month, and that it will produce a report “very soon”.