Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is the case at the moment. We target resources, including for culling badgers. Herds are frozen, effectively, once there is an outbreak. We are trying to isolate problems, deal with them, slaughter the animals, compensate the farmers and deal with the wildlife issue, including badgers, and I know there is a potential issue with wild deer in the Chairman's area. We must take on these issues, as difficult as they may be. Let us consider the average figures nationally. We have gone from spending approximately €60 million per year on this problem four or five years ago to spending €34 million per year now. It is major progress.