Badger culling tarnishes Ireland

Ireland today operates in a highly competitive global market for agricultural produce and we cannot afford to be at any disadvantage. Yet we are one of the few countries to widely cull badgers.

Thankfully, there has been a drop in the incidence of bovine TB in the Republic of Ireland. However, there has also been a greater drop in the rate of bovine TB in Northern Ireland, where they have used improved farming measures, and not a single badger has been killed. This suggests that farming measures, which are also used in Ireland, have reduced the disease.

In terms of culling badgers, we are out of step with our neighbours, who are also our competitors

1. Scotland is free of bovine TB and hasn’t culled badgers.

2. Wales has reduced bovine TB by as much as Ireland, without culling badgers.

3. In Northern Ireland, where no badgers have been culled, the drop in bovine TB incidence has been greater than that south of the border.

4. In England, MPs voted overwhelmingly to halt badger culling in England, on April 13 this year, claiming it to be ineffective.

Bovine TB is a terrible disease and, if anything, we should put more taxpayers’ money into the TB-eradication programme and make Ireland TB-free, once and for all. The Department of Agriculture has been culling badgers for nearly 30 years and, after all that time, it has not eliminated bovine TB in cattle.

Our reputation as the ‘green isle’ is a priceless asset. Having an ecologically clean economy is an essential aspect of marketing Ireland abroad. Yet our green reputation will be threatened if it becomes widely known that we are systematically, and unnecessarily, destroying our remaining wildlife.

We are all familiar with dolphin-friendly tuna. It won’t take too much imagination for our competitors to introduce the label of ‘badger friendly beef’ as a marketing aid, leaving us at a disadvantage. An own goal waiting to happen.

Ireland’s reputation abroad is critical to our tourism industry: six million people visited Ireland in 2012. In addition, our reputation abroad is also critical for our beef industry: 90% of our beef production is for export, where we compete in an increasingly competitive world market. What price are we willing to pay, in terms of our green reputation, to continue with this outdated and ineffective practice?

Colm Ward

The View

Dunboyne Castle

Dunboyne

Co Meath