M6 Roadworks Cause TB Cases

Date Published: 04-Sep-2008

County Galway has been hit by the worst outbreaks of bovine TB since the foundation of the state with some suckler and dairy herds practically wiped out.

Farm leaders in the county are making a direct link between the TB blackspots and the major road and rail projects in Galway which have disturbed large wildlife colonies – especially badgers.

The bovine TB epidemic is aligned to the development of the new M6 from Ballinasloe to the edge of Galway city and the revamp of the Athenry to Ennis rail line.

Michael Flynn, Galway IFA Animal Health Committee Chairman, and a recognised authority on animal disease Issues, said that there could be no doubting the link between the infrastructural developments and the current TB blackspots.

“What is really worrying about the current situation is that farmers are losing large chunks of their herds – in one case nearly half of a 100 cow dairy herd.

“The volume of the TB infestation in these areas is of a scale that we have never experienced
before. There is no doubt that hundreds of infected…