Dairy herd slaughtered because Institute failed to carry out tests

A dairy herd worth £1.3 million was slaughtered because the Agricultural Research Unit in Northern Ireland has failed to carry out disease tests on cattle, according to a report by the Northern Ireland Audit Office.

The outbreak of brucellosis arose from the purchase of a small group of infected cattle and resulted in the slaughter of the Hillsborough Institute’s entire dairy herd.

A total of 794 cattle were slaughtered and the overall net cost to the taxpayer of compensation amounted to £1.3 million.

The report examined the causes of the outbreak and assessed the adequacy of the Department’s measures to control and eradicate brucellosis, a highly contagious bacterial disease, in Northern Ireland.

The Assembly’s Independent Auditor, John Dowdall, said a decision not to test cattle for disease was poorly judged, given the known increased risk of the disease in pregnant cattle.

The report also showed that compensation payments because of the spread of brucellosis had increased from £200,000 in 1996-97 to £9.3m in 2000-01, a total of £22.5m in the last five years.

The report is to be discussed by the Public Accounts Committee at Stormont. The committee will question the accounting officer and the senior officials of the Department of Agriculture about the circumstances surrounding the outbreak and how this can be rectified. (CD)