asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will consider returning identity cards immediately to herdowners whose herds have been restricted because of bovine TB and whose reactor cattle have killed out free of lesions without having to wait for two further tests.

Visible lesions can be expected in only 25 per cent of TB reactors and are present only when the disease is at a comparatively advanced stage. The absence of visible lesions is not an indication that animals are free from TB. Restrictions must therefore continue to apply to all TB reactor herds until these have passed two consecutive herd tests, and there can be no question of returning cattle identity cards to herdowners when post mortem inspection fails to reveal visible TB lesions.