An ingenious system to reduce the prevalence of ticks that carry Lyme disease, in Killarney National Park, has been put forward by Fianna Fáil Councillor, Michael Cahill at this month's meeting of Kerry County Council.

Councillor Cahill has proposed that the Minister for Agriculture urgently investigate the effectiveness of a scheme introduced in the Scottish Moors, whereby sheep, having been regularly dipped to eradicate the ticks that carry Lyme disease were allowed graze there.

"This would reduce the spread of these dangerous ticks to humans," he said.

“These ‘Sheep Mops’ as they are known, could be used in Killarney National Park as a method of preventing this horrible, debilitating disease.
A man, who describes himself as a ‘Lyme Survivor’, recalled t when there were 3,000 sheep in the National Park. I believe it could be a very simple, cost effective project to introduce and apparently it has been an amazing success on the Scottish Moors."

“Dr John Lambert, who is an expert in the area of Lyme disease in Ireland, informed me that many GP's are not aware or informed of the symptoms of Lyme. He said that the HSE do not keep records of those effected in this country, in the United Kingdom, in Germany or any other known location. Dr Lambert said that the figure may be as high as 2,500 affected every year but we don't know,” said the Rossbeigh based Councillor.

“The figure is 70,000 in both Germany and France every year. Testing is not perfect and there is not a good understanding of it. Dr Lambert said that prevention and early intervention is critical. He said that wooden ‘Beware of Ticks’ signs should be erected in all Parks and areas where deer are present”, added Cahill.

“Finally, I would like again to call on the HSE to introduce testing and treatment at University Hospital Kerry as the numbers of cases are continuing to rise in both Kerry and Cork and from what we know the figures are higher in the Southern part of Ireland than the rest of the country," he told the meeting.