Mr. John Keane:

The 2030 target is ambitious in light of the most recent annual trends in the figures. It will be challenging. Without a front-loading of investment to build capacity within the wildlife programme and, as McCabe and Mr. Punch touched on, the resources and research needed to provide evidence to build on that programme, delivering on the 2030 target will be challenging.

Like many others, we have touched on how the labour costs incurred by farmers are not being covered. That will also be a significant challenge in the funding model. TB eradication can be achieved eventually and Irish farmers need it to be. They need and deserve the ongoing labour costs at farm level and the stress and worry associated with TB breakouts to be resolved. Eradication is something that we must deliver. It will have to be based on research and science without having a negative impact on farmers' market returns or without the on-farm actions required to eradicate TB being so onerous as to make the cure worse than the disease. There needs to be a front-loading of funding and more investment in research and the realities of research need to bear fruit at farm level. There needs to be a full implementation of the wildlife programme, as well as follow-up work to determine what the research is showing. I have spoken about badgers and deer. Even with vaccination, they remain a source of infection. We all agree that the development of a vaccine for the bovine herd would be wonderful, but the front-loading of investment to ensure that we can reach the eradication target, which farmers deserve, must be done.

I thank the committee for the opportunity to present to it. I apologise that I have to shoot off early to another meeting. I look forward to future engagements.