A report on the efficiency of the bovine TB tuberculin test, which detects whether or not animals have the disease, is being prepared for the Department of Agriculture and Food, it was learned yesterday.
The report is being prepared by scientists at University College Dublin against the background of rising numbers of "reactor" cattle, which fail the test.
The number of animals failing the test this year has been the highest since the scheme began in 1965 and could reach a record high of 50,000 by the end of the year.
The Department records the number of reactor cattle per 1,000 animals, and this was running at 4.2 per thousand in September this year, compared with 3.7 a year ago.
The latest figures show that at the end of September 31,000 reactors had been identified compared with just over 27,000 one year earlier.
At the end of last year the reactor figure stood at around 44,000, but this is expected to climb to 50,000 by the end of this year.
Comparable figures show that in 1996 the round of testing found 29,000 reactors, and 27,000 were found in the tests carried out in 1997.
The latest figures also identify the blackspots, and Monaghan, west Wicklow, Cavan and Leitrim head the league of counties where reactors are being found.
A Department spokesman said yesterday that while the efficacy of the tuberculin is being evaluated, and a vaccination strategy is being devised, the contribution of wildlife, especially the badger, is thought to be a factor.
The Department, he said, was studying the impact on reactor levels in areas where badgers had been removed from the countryside in east Offaly and reactor levels had dropped significantly. He said officials did not believe that farmers infecting their own cattle was a major factor. Some cases had been dealt with in the courts in Co Monaghan, and the most recent was in Co Longford.
Yesterday the two farm organisations, the Irish Farmers' Association and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association, condemned any farmer involved in attempting to defraud the system.
Farmers are paid the market value for reactor cattle, but claim this figure is too low and does not take account of the loss of EU premium payments.