Individualised TB risk statements recently issued to farmers were not designed to be the sole solution to rising TB levels, Minister for State Martin Heydon has said.

Addressing the Dáil, the minister with responsibility for market development said the reports would form one part of a range of initiatives to tackle worsening disease trends.

“The individualised reports have been kind of seen as this was the panacea to fix everything. It’s one part of an overall much wider approach that will only work in partnership between farmers, farm organisations, my Department and the wider bodies that are involved.”

Further action will be discussed at the upcoming TB Forum on 1 October, which will be attended by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.

Concerns

Farmer concerns around the letters were raised by Independent TD Carol Nolan.

Nolan said the Department had taken action without consulting other stakeholders, which contributed to the angry response to the letters.

Farmers had also expressed concerns that they had the potential to devalue their herds, she added.

The minister stressed that while he understood the frustration among farmers, the reports provided information that had already been available to them, but in a more clear, detailed way.

The advice given was there to be considered when farmers were making their annual culling decisions.

The need for action on rising TB levels was the Department’s primary motivation in issuing the statements, Heydon said.

Rising levels

“Herd incidence on a 12-month rolling basis has breached 4% for the first time since 2012 and reactor numbers have exceeded 20,000, the highest numbers since 2009.

"These trends highlight the need for urgent action by all stakeholders to manage the risk more effectively across all transmission routes,” he said.

Nolan warned that the reports had not instilled confidence in farmers or farm organisations and asked they be withdrawn.

She also flagged the rising costs of the TB programme, highlighting the labour contribution made by farmers that was not officially recognised.

“Despite this massive contribution by farmers, and it's always the farmers that bear the heaviest burden, there is a clear sense that they are being shafted by this system,” she said.

Minister Heydon said the best way to ease the financial burden on farmers was to reverse the trajectory of the disease and work towards eradication.

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