ICMSA’S Deputy President Lorcan McCabe comments at recent TB Forum

Commenting on developments in relation to TB, the Deputy President of ICMSA, Mr. Lorcan McCabe said, that unfortunately, the levels of TB continues to increase, more farmers are being restricted and are suffering the severe consequences of such restrictions and unless the TB Forum addresses the root causes of this problem, the issue is going to go on and on for years to come.   At the recent TB Forum, Mr. McCabe said, that the Department acknowledged that deer was an issue with TB in Wicklow and given this, a programme will have to be put in place immediately to address the deer issue in Wicklow.   The recently introduced inconclusive policy has identified a high percentage of reactors to the blood test amongst inconclusive animals and given this, a voluntary programme to encourage farmers to remove inconclusives at the early stage should be introduced.   While this would require additional resources from the Government initially, by removing TB sources at an early stage, there would be a dividend in terms of reduced TB levels in future years and it is essential that farmers would be incentivised to remove inconclusives at an early stage.    Finally, communications with farmers remains an issue and the Department must ensure that farmers are fully informed of their own position in a timely manner and if this does not happen, the farmer should not be disadvantaged as a result, concluded Mr. McCabe.

Ends     28 May 2021

Lorcan McCabe

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