Animal Diseases
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

Budget 2026 provided an increased budget for the TB programme, with a record €157 million allocated for this reason in 2026. This will allow the TB programme to focus on driving down the disease through the implementation of measures laid out in my new bovine TB action plan. It will support and enable farm families who are currently dealing with the stress of a TB outbreak to navigate a way out of a TB restriction and protect those herds currently free from bovine TB to remain free. The objective of the new measures in the bovine TB action plan is to reduce the number of farms affected and decrease the costs for all stakeholders.
My Department provides a range of financial supports that focus on compensating farmers for both direct and indirect losses incurred as a result of a TB breakdown on the farm. The primary support scheme is the on-farm market valuation scheme, where animals removed as reactors are subject to compensation, subject to scheme ceilings equivalent to their market value in the event they were not disclosed as TB reactors. In 2025, of the 40,583 animals valued under the on-farm market valuation scheme, just under 90% of animals were valued below the scheme ceilings.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14