News
29th June 09
6/29/2009
Ulster Unionist Party 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.
Blame for Bovine TB failure rests with the DARD Minister and officials - Elliott
Ulster Unionist Party 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. He 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 £200m 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.”
“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.”
“I have raised various issues relating to Bovine TB with DARD and Minister Gildernew countless times, and they have simply not taken the matter seriously. It is not good enough. This is a matter which is very important to farmers because of Bovine TB attacking their herds. The Department and Minister Gildernew must act now and outline how they are going to address this issue before more years go by and more large sums of money are spent. The agricultural community in Northern Ireland has had enough of Bovine TB destroying livelihoods and deserves to have this matter dealt with as a priority, otherwise the little amount of trust the public have in Minister Gildernew will be lost altogether.”
Back to other news articles...
