Ulster Unionist Agriculture Spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson MLA has lambasted the Department of Agriculture on their attempts to ditch Private Vets in favour of Departmental Lay Testers. 

Slamming DARD at the recent meeting of the Stormont Agriculture Committee Mrs Dobson explained how farmers valued the flexibility, knowledge and expertise of their private vets, she said: “DARD officials brought forward their plans for the future of TB Testing in the guise of saving money when the plain reality is that their plans would place an even greater burden on the taxpayer. 

“Private vets provide a totally flexible solution for farmers where Departmental Lay Testers would operate inside the constraints of DARD office hours – 10am to 5pm, five days per week.  This would ultimately lead to frustration and indeed delays for farmers who are already under pressure to work harder given current high input costs and low farm gate prices. 

“As a member of a farming family I outlined at the meeting how farmers value the work of their private vets who can undertake TB testing a greater number of days per week than Departmental Lay Testers and are available outside office hours. 

“The officials say that they want to save £350,000 by effectively bringing TB Testing ‘in-house.’  During the committee meeting I questioned officials on the fact that TB Testing mainly takes place in the housing period and that were Lay Testers to be employed on full time contracts there would be a considerable proportion of their working year where there would have very little work to do - not unsurprisingly the Department were unable to give me an adequate answer.   

“It did not take long to expose the fundamental flaws in their ill-thought-out plans, flaws which would undoubtedly lead to greater inconvenience and higher costs for both farmers and the Northern Ireland taxpayer. 

“As well as costing more in the long term, this move would be totally counterproductive, putting in danger the future of private veterinary practices across Northern Ireland.  This in turn would hamper our ability to identify and fight any future epidemics such as Foot and Mouth disease. 

“Private vets at present can operate as a ‘pressure valve’ for the Department when they have an increased workload.  Farmers will struggle to understand the rationale for employing staff within the Department whose work-load is based on seasonality and who could end up with little work were herd incidences to fall. 

 “This is yet another example of DARD trying to put a square peg into a round hole – it simply will not work.

“The next step for the Department in their plans is a public consultation and business case, however I would urge them to review their plans immediately to avoid taking a decision which will have disastrous consequences for our ability to fight disease and which will ultimately come with a higher price tag than the present arrangements.”