Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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591. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current cost of the culling of each badger under the TB Eradication Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24324/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Since my Department began the widespread rollout of the badger vaccination programme in 2019 significant resources have been required in terms of manpower, supplies and services. My Department has funded these resources each year in line with requirements. In 2022 approximately €6.4 million was spent on the wildlife programme.

Given the range of activities and varied workload that the staff involved in the wildlife programme undertake it is not possibly to extrapolate how much it costs to cull badgers on an individual badger basis.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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592. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of the rate of use of vaccination and microchipping of badgers under the TB Eradication Programme per annum over the lifetime of the project to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24325/23]

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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595. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current resources assigned to the badger culling programme and the badger vaccination programme, and their assigned geographical area and rate of culling and vaccination completed in each area over the last five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24328/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 592 and 595 together.

There are approximately 54 full time equivalent (FTE) DAFM technical officers working on the wildlife programme across the country, working primarily from the Department's regional veterinary offices. In addition there are also 2 FTE veterinary staff working on the programme, with support from regional veterinary staff assisting with vaccination, microchipping and examinations amongst other requirements. My Department also ran a tender competition in 2022 for services relating to the wildlife programme in which the successful tenderer supplies staff to assist the technical and veterinary officers of my Department with the requirements of the wildlife programme.

The country is divided into removal and vaccination zones, with more and more of the country turned over to vaccine year on year. The table below gives the number of badgers captured in the removal zones and those captured for vaccination in the vaccine zones from 2019 - 2022.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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593. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the project timeline with measurable deliverables with regard to the badger culling programme and badger vaccination programme under the TB Eradication Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24326/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Under the TB Eradication Programme badger vaccination is being substituted for continued culling of badgers such that a significant reduction in the numbers of badgers culled can be achieved over the coming years while still maintaining effective control of the risk posed to other species. The intention is to gradually reduce badger culling per annum in tandem with the badger vaccination programme.

The large-scale rollout of badger vaccination commenced in late 2019. Every year more and more of the countryside is designated as vaccination zones. This is reflected in the numbers of badgers captured for vaccination in these zones rising from an initial figure of 1,937 badgers in 2019, to 4,698 badgers in 2020. This figure rose again in 2021 to 6,586 badgers, with a further 7,244 badgers captured for vaccination in 2022. Research has shown that population penetration of the badger population with the vaccine needs to exceed 50% to be effective. The badger is a secretive, nocturnal wild animal. This makes it difficult to accurately estimate the badger population in Ireland. This in turn makes it difficult for my Department to give a precise timeline on this project. Work is ongoing to accurately estimate the current badger population numbers.