EU committee on livestock health visit
Marcin Libicki, chairman of the Petitions Committee, will be accompanied by committee vice-president and Cork MEP, Kathy Sinnott.
A multi-agency investigation over several years co-ordinated by the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that pollution, toxic substances in the diet, or soil and herbage composition anomalies, were unlikely causes of animal health problems in west Limerick. It was concluded many of the problems reported were of a type commonly seen on farms elsewhere, and there was evidence of on-farm infectious, nutritional and management factors.
The Petitions Committee will be accompanied in west Limerick by EPA staff and local elected representatives.
Pat Culhane of Cappagh Farmers Support Group, who will meet with visiting party, said local farmers are not satisfied that enough has been done to find the source of their problems.
He said these problems peaked in the late 1990s, but continue to persist on many farms.
