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The Department of Agriculture is to hold bilateral talks with the farm organisations on the issue of TB compensation rates. This was agreed at Wednesday’s meeting of the TB Stakeholders Forum.
The bilateral talks are to take place ahead of the next meeting of the forum which will be in November. The other participants in the forum, including Teagasc, UCD, food and dairy industry representatives and wildlife representatives, will not be involved in the bilateral talks.
The farm organisations requested the talks as they claim that farmers who suffer TB outbreaks are not fully compensated for the loss of stock and loss of income.
Wednesday’s forum meeting had an outline discussion of possible movement restrictions and new controls to help eradicate TB by 2030
They want the issue discussed before there is further discussion of categorisation of herds and new movement controls for the next TB programme.
In its consultation papers for the forum, the Department discussed the possibility of reducing compensation as incidence of the disease falls, to further incentivise farmers to avoid the disease.
Any such suggestions over thee coming months will be rejected by the farm organisations.
Wednesday’s forum meeting had an outline discussion of possible movement restrictions and new controls to help eradicate TB by 2030.
IFA animal health chair Pat Farrell welcomed the coming talks on compensation.
“TB outbreaks plus Department of Agriculture controls put a big cost burden on farmers. We have identified shortcomings of up to €300 in the live valuation scheme for some animals.
"Also, the income supplement scheme does not fully address the actual income loss experienced by farmers due to TB breakdowns.”
Movement or trading restrictions
Farrell opposes any further movement or trading restrictions on herds that have a TB outbreak. “The Department’s own figures show that only 7.4% of new outbreaks result from buying an animal from another herd.
"So movement is not the problem. Instead, it appears that the disease gets established and then persists in an area. There has to be a focus on eradicating TB in these areas.”
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