Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ring raised one of the points I was going to talk about. We have the Covid situation and there is a mad rush on all of these vaccines coming in. We are told that comprehensive measures are being put in place to stop the spread of TB. Farmers, however, do not see that method being applied to deal with badgers. Since we started this evening the consensus is that deer are part of the overall problem, but it is interesting that in the Department's opening statement there was no mention of deer at all. I believe it was Mr. Ryan who referred to farmers cutting down the risk to their own herd. Surely the likes of Coillte should be pulled up when they do not properly fence around their lands to ensure deer do not encroach onto neighbouring farmland. What can be done with Coillte to force this? When a farmer is being asked to take all the measures to cut down the risk on his or her farm, surely agencies or State bodies such as Coillte should be made to do the same thing.