The Department of Agriculture is “blacklisting” 20,000 farms throughout the country and has devalued their animals through the issuing of TB herd risk letters, according to the IFA.

IFA animal health chair Pat Farrell has come out strongly against what he called an “underhand approach” by the Department to publicise farms' TB history.

“This raises very serious issues for these farmers who through no fault of their own have had TB outbreaks. It will have implications for selling cattle and calves from their farms,” he said.

There were serious data protection concerns that the TB history of herds that farmers have previously purchased from may be identified by the information provided in the letters, Farrell said.

Oversight

He called for the letters to be withdrawn, stating that the Department was taking advantage of the absence of ministerial oversight to “progress their own views at the expense of farmers”.

Farrell said Department officials, “who clearly don’t understand the impact of TB on our farms”, refused to support the IFA’s proposals to address the issue of TB.

The TB programme was at a critical juncture and ongoing farmer support in terms of financial contributions was under threat unless the Department started to show respect to farmers, he warned.

Costs

Farrell pointed out that Irish farmers contribute €35m directly to the TB programme every year and a further €20m in labour, while the TB programmes in the UK were fully funded by the national exchequer.

The imbalance that exists in the decision-making process for the TB programme and in the levels of funding for financial supports for farmers must be addressed as a matter of urgency, Farrell said.

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