PRESS RELEASE
29 June 2009
PAC/12/08/09
BOVINE TB COST TAXPAYER £200 MILLION
Bovine tuberculosis control has cost the taxpayer £200m over the past ten years, averaging some £20m per year over a ten year period to 2007-08. That’s 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, published today.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Mr Paul Maskey 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 ten-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 continued: “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.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1. Bovine TB is an infectious bacterial disease which affects the health and welfare of cattle, lowers productivity and fertility and impacts on the herd keeper’s profitability.
2. Other concerns raised by the Report include the quality of testing by private vets during the period 2002-06.
3. Standing Orders under Section 60(3) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 have provided for the establishment of the Public Accounts Committee (the Committee). The main statutory function of the Committee is to consider accounts and the reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland (C&AG) laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly.
4. The C&AG is head of the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) and is empowered to investigate any area of expenditure and has a statutory right of access to all files and papers in Departments and public bodies.
The PAC Committee members are:-
| Alliance | Mr Trevor Lunn |
| Democratic Unionist Party | Mr Jim Shannon 6 |
| Mr Jonathan Craig | |
| Mr George Robinson 7 | |
| Mr Jim Wells 3,4,5 | |
| Sinn Fein | Mr Paul Maskey (Chairperson) 2 |
| Mr Mitchel McLaughlin | |
| Social Democratic and Labour Party | Mr John Dallat Mr Thomas Burns 1 |
| Ulster Unionist Party | Mr Roy Beggs (Deputy Chairperson) |
| Progressive Unionist Party | Ms Dawn Purvis |
1 With effect from 04 March 2008 Mr Thomas Burns replaced Mr Patsy McGlone.
2 With effect from 20 May 2008 Mr Paul Maskey replaced Mr John O'Dowd.
3 With effect from 1 October 2007 Mr Mickey Brady replaced Mr Willie Clarke.
4 With effect from 21 January 2008 Mr Ian McCrea replaced Mr Mickey Brady.
5 With effect from Tuesday 27 May 08 Mr Jim Wells replaced Mr Ian McCrea.
6 With effect from Monday 15 September 08 Mr Jim Shannon replaced Mr David Hilditch.
7 With effect from Monday 15 September 08 Mr George Robinson replaced Mr Simon Hamilton.
Media enquiries to:
Debra Savage,
Press Officer NI Assembly
Tel. 028 90521405 Mobile 07920 864221
Email: debra.savage@niassembly.gov.uk Website archive.niassembly.gov.uk
Website archive.niassembly.gov.uk