Farmers will be forced to test their cows and older bulls for brucellosis 30 days before they move them off their farms under new regulations to be introduced on January 1st.
The compulsory 30-day pre-movement test is being introduced to protect Ireland's brucellosis-free status and to stop the spread of the disease, especially in the south-west and the midlands.
Yesterday a sub-committee of the Animal Health Committee met in Dublin to consider the position. The committee is composed of farming, veterinary, industry and Department of Agriculture representatives.
Following the meeting it was learned that the Department resisted attempts by the farm organisations to have the taxpayer foot the bill for the pre-movement testing.
When the last minister for agriculture, Mr Ivan Yates, privatised the disease eradication scheme, part of that deal was a trade-off which removed mandatory pre-movement testing for brucellosis.
Since then the disease has spread rapidly over the south-west and into the midlands. Figures seen by The Irish Times show that the number of outbreaks exceed the level which would allow brucellosis-free status to continue.
An Irish Farmers' Association spokesman, Mr Liam Egan, expressed disappointment after the meeting at the failure of the Department to put forward a meaningful plan to eradicate the disease.
He said the IFA was insisting on major improvements in the scheme, on having no delays in getting blood tests returned to farmers, and criticised the Department's refusal to implement stronger legislation to enable all breeding cattle to be sold under permit after they had passed a pre-movement test.
The IFA was also insisting, he said, that the 30-day pre-movement test be totally financed by the Department because farmers are already paying for their annual TB and brucellosis tests.
The general secretary of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association, Mr Donal Murphy, yesterday urged farmers to assume greater control of their own future and to take over the operation of animal disease eradication programmes.
He told a meeting in Co Sligo that since 1954 the eradication scheme has been led and driven by the Department of Agriculture and the representatives of the veterinary practitioners.
He said the scheme had failed, and it was time that farmers had the courage and foresight to take control into their own hands and set themselves the target of achieving total eradication of bovine TB and brucellosis.
Earlier this week the co-operative marts announced that they were abandoning their plans to introduce special blood-tested sales of animals in light of the new regulations.
The marts had moved to assist the farming community in preventing the spread of the disease.
Guaranteed sales of pre-tested animals was one of the ways of achieving that.
The disease, which causes abortion in cows and heifers, is also highly dangerous to humans, and earlier this year the Southern Health Board warned the public on the spread of the disease.