The Department of Agriculture will press ahead with plans to introduce a 30-day pre-movement test for brucellosis in cows and bulls over one year. This is despite failure at a meeting in Dublin yesterday to find agreement with the other parties involved.
A meeting to resolve a number of issues, especially the crucial one of who should pay for testing, failed to reach agreement and a full meeting of the Animal Health Forum will be necessary to find such agreement, a Department source confirmed last night.
The rapid spread of brucellosis especially in Munster is endangering Ireland's brucellosis-free status which was declared in 1985 when the incidence of the disease fell to low levels.
The latest figures show 325 herds have been hit, and this brings infection in the national herd over the 0.1 per cent level which could cost Ireland its special status.
Earlier in the autumn the Department said it would introduce a mandatory 30-day pre-movement test for cows and bulls to control the spread of the disease.
It also decided that it would blood-test cows for the disease, which causes pregnant cows to abort, rather than relying on a ring test which is carried out on milk from herds at creameries to detect the presence of brucellosis.
The brucellosis issue has reintroduced tensions between the farmers, the vets and the Department because it has yet to be decided who will pay for testing.