Animal Diseases Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-16 ============================================================ Michael Healy-Rae (IND), Kerry I apologise for the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and I am glad to be here on his behalf. I thank Senator Kyne for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline the current situation with the bovine TB eradication programme. The Senator's timing in this debate is important given what has been happening in my county in recent weeks, on top of every other thing we had to do with TB. We seem to have an awful serious problem at the moment, which the Senator is rightfully recognising in the House. Bovine TB is an ongoing challenge for Irish farmers, and I know it takes a toll both emotionally and financially on farming families. In recognition of a need to tackle the increased disease levels in recent years, on 9 September this years the Minister, Deputy Heydon, launched the Bovine TB Action Plan: Addressing Bovine TB in Ireland. There are five measures and 30 actions underpinned by scientific research and veterinary expertise. These are: to support herds free of bovine TB to remain free; to reduce the impact of wildlife on the spread of bovine TB; to detect and eliminate bovine TB infection as early as possible in herds with a bovine TB breakdown and avoid a future breakdown; to help farmers improve all areas of on-farm biosecurity; and to reduce the impact of known high-risk animals in spreading bovine TB. The aim of the action plan is to reset the bovine TB programme in the context of putting in place measures necessary to tackle the current disease situation. These measures are targeting both transmission between wildlife and cattle and transmission between cattle. Budget 2026 provided an increased budget for the TB programme, with €157 million allocated for 2026. This will allow the TB programme to focus on driving down disease through the implementation of the measures laid out in the bovine TB action plan. Our Department provides various financial supports designed to help farmers with the direct and indirect losses from TB outbreaks on their farms. The primary support scheme is the on-farm market valuation scheme, which compensates farmers for the market value of animals that are removed due to TB, as if they had not been identified as reactors. When a herd goes down with TB, the herd owner selects a valuer from an independent panel of livestock experts who visits the holding to value the animals on farm using up-to-date market values. Each week our Department issues summary market prices which are compiled of sales data collected nationally from marts by Department officials and accurately reflect current values for each category of animal, ensuring that affected farmers receive appropriate value for their animals. I know this is the issue the Senator has a big problem with. Once a valuation has been agreed by both parties, the animals are removed for slaughter. On receipt of factory dockets detailing the salvage value, our Department issues payment for the remainder of the valuation, bringing the amount up to the market value assigned by the independent valuer, subject to certain ceiling limits. In the period up to 30 November 2025, of the 36,646 animals valued under the on-farm market valuation scheme, just under 95% of animals were valued below the scheme ceilings. Additional support options are available through the income supplement scheme, depopulation grant scheme and hardship grant scheme to help farmers with indirect costs incurred during a TB breakdown. As part of the work of the TB forum, a dedicated financial working group was established to review the financial modelling of various elements of the bovine TB eradication programme. As a result of the agreement reached in this group in 2023, there were rate enhancements to improve the supplement scheme, the hardship grant and the depopulation grant as well as enhanced ceilings for select animals such as certain pedigree animals being removed as part of the on-farm market valuation scheme. In addition, the financial working group also expanded the eligibility criteria under the income supplement scheme and hardship grant schemes. Due to the increased cost of the bovine TB programme in recent years, the focus at present is on reducing the levels of disease, which will reduce the impact of bovine TB on Irish family farms and reduce the cost of the programme, which rose to over €100 million in 2024, a figure which will be exceeded in 2025. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-12-16