Debate contribution: Bovine TB

Debate contribution by Ms Diana Armstrong on 19 November 2024.

MLA: Ms Diana Armstrong
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 19 November 2024
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Bovine TB
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4666272

Text

I thank Members for their contributions so far and those who tabled the important motion. Bovine TB is one of the most significant and expensive infectious diseases affecting our agri-food sector in Northern Ireland. As an MLA for the rural constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone, where TB rates are amongst the highest in the country and well above the Northern Ireland average, I often hear about the devastating consequences that TB has had on our cattle farmers and family farms.
TB impacts on the very fabric of our rural communities. As other Members have mentioned, our farmers, who dedicate themselves to ensuring our food supply, endure significant emotional and financial hardships due to that ongoing disease. The loss of livestock, rigorous testing protocols and movement restrictions create a relentless cycle of challenges that must not be overlooked. The annual financial cost to the Department of Northern Ireland's TB cost control programme is currently in excess of £55 million and, as others have said, is projected to surpass £60 million in the current financial year, with almost 10% of farm businesses affected by TB in the past 12 months. Members will agree that those figures actively demonstrate the shortcomings of the current programme. That is financially unsustainable and untenable, and it is why we need a comprehensive and holistic bovine TB strategy, which must be a priority for the Department.
It is essential that any measures include a targeted wildlife intervention, as proposed by the TB Eradication Partnership, a panel made up of scientists, environmentalists and experts. Farmers in Fermanagh and South Tyrone are being let down by the lack of action on an integrated and targeted wildlife intervention, which is prevalent in England and the Republic of Ireland. The evidence speaks for itself: where there is wildlife intervention, TB numbers fall. Northern Ireland must implement a mingled animal vaccination programme in low-infection areas, with targeted culling where TB levels are high. The Minister must commit to eradicating bovine TB, and I will take his assurances on that. We should protect our farmers and safeguard our agriculture sector. The UUP will support the motion and the amendment.

357 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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