Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I start by agreeing with Deputies Kehoe and Carthy. Unless the four organisations work together, this problem will not be resolved and every couple of years we will be coming back to talk about it. The EU will get fed up funding it in the end.

I have some questions for each of the associations. Some have been asked already and if they have, they can just be ignored. In a statement the Department indicates 2020 saw the highest rates of TB in a decade. It set out ten points and indicates that the strategy must continue to evolve. This raises the question of what should come with a redefined roadmap. It is what farmers we contacted are crying out for.

We are told comprehensive measures must be put in place to stop the spread of the disease but the farmers do not see such measures applied to either deer or badgers. Will the Department admit we are still far from getting a comprehensive approach to dealing with such factors? There is no mention of deer in the opening statement but in the TB eradication strategy, in referring to the risk posed by deer, the Department speaks of improved communications.

In addition, no real action is being taken to deal with the problem of the danger posed by the deer.

My next questions are for the Department. When the forestry felling licences are being issued, does the Department give advice on the implications this may have on the movement of deer? Having spoken to some of the farmers' groups they suggest that the €35 million contribution the Department says the farmers make falls way short in reality. With testing happening so frequently some of them are subject to gathering herds and housing them. That can cost the farmers days at work and also in terms of the expense of housing the cattle. Farmers do not believe there is this roadmap that people are talking about. Will the Department seek the support of the farmers when it is implementing this roadmap?

I have a couple of questions for the IFA that Mr. Cullinan might answer. In terms of finances, does the meat industry have a potential part to play here given the importance of health and the availability to the sector? In other words, how are they being allowed to get away with not contributing to the TB eradication programme so far? I would like a response also on the increase in cases in Tipperary. There were 1,154 in south Tipperary and 1,390 in north Tipperary in 2020.

My next question is for the ICMSA. The role of the deer in terms of TB is an inescapable problem. Someone said it is just as much of a problem as the badger. That comes back to the failure of Coillte to properly fence land to ensure that deer do not encroach on the adjacent lands. Could the witnesses expand on their concerns about the alignment of compensation with undertaking risk mitigation measures? I will leave it at that as the other questions I had have been answered at this stage.