It would be unfair to suggest that the effort over 40 years to eradicate bovine TB has been an unmitigated disaster the number of diseased herds has been reduced from 25 per cent in 1958 to 0.5 per cent today. In virtually every other respect, however, it is difficult to make a case for the scheme, which has cost taxpayers a staggering £1.5 billion.
The scheme may well have proved a boon for the veterinary professions vets engaged in large animal practices are thought to earn over 50 per cent of their income directly from the TB eradication scheme and meat inspection accounts but the sheer scale of public money that it has absorbed is indefensible. Any fair minded person would have to agree that there must be a more cost efficient alternative to the existing arrangements.
The alternative proposed by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, is deceptively simple. Instead of the State overseeing the eradication of the disease, he wants individual farmers to shoulder the responsibility. Under his proposals farmers will have responsibility for arranging first herd tests each year and for taking the appropriate measures to safeguard their existing herds. Crucially, the individual farmer, rather than the Department itself, will pay the private vet for carrying out the work.
Mr Yates is not the first Minister who has tried to reform the scheme. He will be conscious of the fact that earlier initiatives by previous Fine Gael ministers over two decades foundered on opposition from both farmers and vets. But his proposals are indeed "the most radical reform of the scheme that has ever been undertaken", as he describes them. And, it is probably fair to say that they stand the best prospect of success.
The Minister has shown his political mettle by devising proposals which drive a wedge between the farmers and the vets. The proposed reduction in the levies farmers will have to pay to the Department, from £28 to £10 million, has concentrated minds in the farming community. And the farming community has also been enticed by the proposed abolition of the compulsory 60 day pre movement test that farmers have to arrange and pay for to allow them to sell their cattle.
Mr Yates, will have been heartened by the strong endorsement of his proposals at last night's a.g.m. of the Irish Farmers Association. The other farm organisations have also signalled their readiness to work the new system. The Irish Veterinary Union (IVU), however, is continuing to oppose the proposals. Some of their concerns about the proposed abolition of the 60 day pre movement test may be well grounded there are suggestions that this would run counter to all scientific analysis but this is a matter which could be refined in the course of the TB forum which the Minister has convened.
With Mr Yates clearly determined to press ahead with his proposals, it is difficult not to conclude that the IVU has been outflanked by the new found alliance between the Minister and the farming organisations. The IVU last night accused the Minister of presenting them with a fait accompli and of "pulling the rug" from under the ongoing negotiations on the proposals. But the Minister, who signalled his intention of reforming the TB eradication scheme over several months, should not be diverted from his course the case for comprehensive reform of the scheme is overwhelming.