BOVINE tuberculosis control has cost the taxpayer £200 million over the past 10 years, averaging some £20 million per year over a ten year period to 2007-08.
That was the key finding in the Northern Ireland Assembly's Public Accounts Committee Report on the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development's Bovine TB programme which was published this week.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Mr Paul Ma
skey MLA, chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "Bovine TB has been a major problem for far too long. While progress has been made in reducing its incidence in the last five years, the level remains significantly higher than in 1996 and many times greater than the 1986 level. It seems that for several years, the Department lost control over its bovine TB programme, and its subsequent progress has been much too slow.
"DARD has told the Committee that while its programme would not lead to the eradication of bovine TB, it was moving towards limiting the disease. This is a damning admission. To have spent £200 million over a 10 year period, merely to contain a disease and with no end to the problem in sight, is poor value for money."
Questions were also raised in the report about biosecurity, with concerns over inadequate boundary fencing and the refusal of DARD to introduce compulsory pre-movement testing of all cattle. There was also a lack of direction and progress in addressing the issue of bovine TB transmission by wildlife.
Mr Maskey added: "Of particular concern to the Committee was the non-compliance by DARD in respect of the EU Directive on "inconclusive" test results, as it allowed two re-tests rather than the one permitted by the EU. Through this non-compliance, the Department cut itself off from additional funding made available by the EU to help eradicate disease in five of the nine years from 2000 to 2008. The Committee has therefore called upon the DARD to address its previous failings in securing what would have been millions of pounds' worth of grants.
He concluded: "The Committee acknowledges that the eradication of bovine TB in Northern Ireland represents a major challenge. Unfortunately, the evidence shows that, in several key respects, the Department has failed to meet that challenge. If the Department is to make real progress, it must adopt a much more strategic approach, with a clear focus on eradication of the disease rather than mere containment. It will also have to work much more closely with both the cattle industry and private veterinary practitioners than it has done in the past."
Meanwhile Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has said that Minister Gildernew and her officials must act without delay to tackle Bovine TB if they want to escape further criticism and restore the faith of the farming community.
Mr Elliott was speaking after a report by the Public Accounts Committee studying DARD's handling of the disease said that the departments reaction was "much too slow and the resulting costs prohibitive".
In a statement, Mr Elliott said: "Any farmer in Northern Ireland knows that Bovine TB is an issue that has been hampering our agricultural industry for over twenty years. This report highlights that some £200 million has been spent on combating the disease during the last decade, but rather than eradicate the disease we have only managed to contain it with levels of the disease today still higher than in 1996 or 1986. Upon entering office, Minister Gildernew knew this was the case. Yet, she failed to act decisively and introduce the measures needed to ensure that Bovine TB would be eradicated."
He added: "There are numerous examples of departmental failings which I have highlighted both in ARD Committee and in the media.
"For example, we have the inability of DARD to address the issue of inadequate skin testing which means that there is still a risk of purchasing infection, even from herds classified as 'tuberculosis free'.
"Furthermore, we have the fact that there has been a failure to deal with the wildlife issue, including badgers, that may help to curtail the spread of the disease. Indeed, the report states that 'the department has not actually intervened to tackle the wildlife issue' and that the committee is 'not wholly confident that the Department is committed to moving this issue forward as quickly as it would like. These points are extremely worrying and demand urgent attention'."
