Commission approves application for brucellosis-free status in Ireland

THE European Com-mission has approved Ireland’s application for official brucellosis free status, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith announced yesterday.

He said it was “a landmark in the history of disease eradication in Ireland” and was due to a number of factors, not least the full co-operation of all the stakeholders in the eradication regime.

Brucellosis free status would have a very beneficial impact on the farming community in the years to come, particularly in relation to trade and the cost of testing, he said.