Animal Diseases
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Martin Kenny (SF), Sligo-Leitrim

I thank the Minister. I appreciate all of that and that there is work being done. The marts have been central to this because that is where a lot of farmers are coming into the situation. They are unaware of what category their cattle fall into when they are going to the mart, and that is a big issue because then they do not know who can buy them. A lot of farmers are finding it very difficult to navigate this whole process. Farm organisations have been very critical of it. The Department was supposed to set up a dedicated helpline that farmers could contact. My understanding is that they are getting no answer to any of the calls they make to that helpline. There is an issue in respect of that and I think it needs to be addressed as quickly as possible.
Farmers selling cattle are unaware of who can buy them and what category they fall into, and it makes them very reticent and concerned about the whole scheme and how it is going to work out for them. The risk of TB is a serious problem for a lot of farmers, particularly when they are in an area where there may have been a number of reactors on farms around them and they are very concerned about it. Of course they want to work with a system that will eradicate TB but they cannot do so if they do not understand it and if it is not clear and concise. That needs to change.

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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