Tipperary farming: ICMSA raises concerns around TB programme

Concern is growing over a “penny wise, pound foolish’ attitude that seems to underpin the proposed new TB Eradication programme, according to ICMSA deputy president Lorcan McCabe.

The first thing that had to be appreciated was that programmes of this type - if they were serious - involved frontloaded expenditure, he said.

“It seems obvious to us that money is going to have to be spent and compensation paid out in the initial stages of the programme because that’s when the incidences are going to be higher; as the reactors are removed and as the inconclusives are worked through then the expenditure falls,” said Mr McCabe.

He said that Department seemed reluctant to accept that logic and seemed to want to avoid frontloading the funding.

ICMSA was also concerned by, and will not accept, the proposals that appear intent on penalising farmers under various headings while not addressing their legitimate fears, said Mr McCabe.

“ICMSA is convinced that inconclusives should be removed with the clear proviso that if no lesions are discovered after slaughter that the herd is not restricted,” he said.

The new programme should be all about lowering the possibility of infection and that means that the inconclusives must be removed because that, in itself, lowers the risk and that in itself, means that the likelihood of the Department having to compensate later in the programme is considerably lessened, said Mr McCabe.

It also meant accepting a much more direct linkage between wildlife factors - specifically badgers and deer - and the rise in infections.

Farmers will not buy-in to the current proposals because their legitimate concerns are not being dealt with,” he said.