The Agriculture Secretary has been urged to conduct a “major review” of his department’s bovine tuberculosis eradication program amid rising costs and rising disease rates.
In a report to the ministry, the Joint Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says the Irish herd recorded “the highest TB levels in the EU” at over 4.3 per cent as of 2021, down from a historic low of 3.2 per cent in 2016.
This is despite an increase in program funding from €82 million in 2015 to €97 million in 2020, with a further €1 billion projected by 2030.
PAC Chair Brian Stanley (SF) says “it’s time for a major overhaul of the program.”
“It’s clear that TB in the herd has gone from just over 3 percent in 2016 to 5 percent and obviously the herd is bigger now so the numbers are a lot bigger.
“It is important that we have a system to fight bovine TB, but that system appears to be broken and needs radical reform.
“The overall costs are escalating with a forecast of over 100 million euros this year. At the same time, due to poor performance, EU funding has dropped to 4/5 percent from almost 13 percent in 2015. The big donors are farmers, taxpayers, the state.
“I urge Minister McConalogue to conduct a full review of the program at this time, nothing else will do. He has to grab this scheme by the neck.
“Senior officials and experts need to recognize what mistakes are being made? Which practices don’t work? Are there lessons learned from abroad?
“As the Public Accounts Committee, we’re looking for a detailed, disaggregated breakdown of where the money is going under the scheme … there’s some speculation that it’s developed into some kind of industry.”
ICSA animal health chairman Hugh Farrell says he has been looking for the breakdown of spending “for years” and warned of “staffing and resource issues at the department”.
On the rise in TB rates, he said: “There’s a good chance we’ll see a spike this year just because of the drought and the badgers.
“Overall, this has been caused by an industrial government that has encouraged us to grow.
“The cost of TB has to go up, we have to expect that because we have increased our milk production and production numbers. But we’re bringing back billions in revenue, so the cost of growing TB is nothing compared to that return to the treasury.”
