Mr. T.J. Maher:

It is great to be back in person. We appreciate the invitation to come in. We were told it has been over two years since we were here in person.

We have sent a submission to the committee but I will give some key points here. The TB eradication programme implemented in Ireland remains the single largest animal health cost for Irish farmers each year with combined direct and indirect cost of over €55 million per annum. In addition, despite 4% of herds breaking down with the disease annually, the fear of a TB outbreak continues to be identified by farmers as one of the largest annual stress factors associated with farming as a result of the severe impact on normal farm practice and associated losses.

Irish farmers contribute in excess of €55 million each year to the TB programme with more than €27 million in annual TB testing costs, approximately €8 million in disease levies and €20 million in labour when facilitating the testing of more than 9 million animal tests a year. For the €55 million investment, farmers receive just over €20 million in compensation in 2020, rising to €26 million last year, reflecting the higher stock values for animals and production losses associated with the TB programme on our farms.

Clearly, eradication of the disease within the shortest feasible time frames must be the objective. However, this will not be achieved by the simplistic approach of tightening controls on farmers while ignoring the impact this has on farmers and the associated losses for their farms. In recent years, the levels of TB have increased throughout the country with more than 20,000 reactors and more than 4,000 herds each year experiencing restrictions.

While the objective must be eradication of TB from the national herd within the shortest feasible timeframe, we cannot lose sight of the impact TB controls and measures have on farmers, their families and their business. Regardless of how effective any new or enhanced controls will be in reducing the levels of TB and ultimately achieving eradication, we cannot lose sight of the fact this will be a long-term process throughout which farmers will incur financial losses through animal removals and trade restrictions. The support schemes in the TB programme must be enhanced to reflect the full impact animal removals and restrictions have on the income of their farms. This will provide the platform to move forward the controls and measures necessary to make meaningful progress in pursuing eradication of the disease and maintaining farmer support for the process.

Today we are here to discuss TB eradication. The main driver to achieve this will not be a simplistic and one-dimensional approach. While a multifaceted approach will be necessary, the main driver has been and will always be the effective implementation of the effective wildlife control programme. We have seen first-hand in this country the impact this programme can have in reducing the levels of disease. In the late 1990s we were having up to 44,000 TB reactors a year taken from our farms. The commencement of the wildlife programme in the early 2000s reduced these numbers to less than 16,000 by 2013. There is no doubt but that a number of factors have contributed to the increase in reactors since then but central to that has been the lack of progress in enhancing the wildlife control programme.

The committee will be aware the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has committed additional resources to the wildlife programme in the last budget and through the implementation group, enhancements to the programme have been agreed which include a comprehensive resurveying for setts, assisted by the roll-out of the new app which farmers support and have already engaged with and are starting to see the results in terms of additional setts identified and the proactive implementation of the programme in advance of major infrastructural works.

However, the main limiting factor here is the human resources available to the programme to effectively and efficiently implement the programme to positively impact on the levels of TB. Additional funding has been provided for and we must now see this translate into boots on the ground to carry out the surveying and capture work. The IFA has made a detailed submission to the TB implementation group in this area. Members will have been provided with a copy.

The programme effectively requires a doubling of the human resources available to it with those resources deployed on the basis of TB levels within the area. If we are serious about eradicating TB, we must have effective and efficient implementation of the wildlife programme with the primary focus on density reduction of badgers where found associated with TB outbreaks.

The Minister has announced the re-establishment of the national deer management forum. This must happen as a matter of urgency both to address the TB risk associated with deer, which is becoming more prevalent, and the broader impact these animals are having roaming through our farmland, eating grass, damaging crops and fences and raising safety issues on roads.

I now turn to farm controls. We can never again have a situation where the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine unilaterally embarks on an approach of blacklisting farmers through herd categorisation for TB. The new structures of engagement are helpful to avoid a repeat of this but the episode has rightly caused great anger among our members. Categorising herds based on TB risk does not eradicate the disease, but severely penalises farmers who through no fault of their own experience TB breakdowns. Good progress has been made in this area.

Between 2012 and 2020, the level of farmers' direct contribution to the programme increased by 13.8% from €30.6 million to €34 million. Funding from the Exchequer increased from €45 million to €57 million, while the contribution from the EU reduced from €11 million to €5.4 million. Farmer contributions in 2021 have increased again with a further reduction in the contribution from the EU. Farmers’ direct contribution consists of payment for the annual TB test and the payment of disease levies amounting to over €35 million in 2021. Until recently the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine refused to recognise farmer labour as a contribution to the programme. The Grant Thornton cost-benefit analysis identified this contribution to be worth only €8 million. The IFA has rejected this figure. Our conservative estimate puts the farm labour contribution at €20 million annually. That brings farmers’ total contribution to over €55 million.

It must be remembered TB breakdowns are primarily associated with issues outside the control of the farmer. TB controls have a huge financial impact on farms and facilitating the programme on our farms creates significant labour demands. All this must be taken into account. Clearly a sustainable funding model needs to be agreed. There is broad consensus here on that. This model must recognise the full level of farmers' contributions currently and must involve all stakeholders who benefit from farmers' implementation of the TB eradication programme. Maintaining access to our export markets and the value-added chain for our produce is only possible because of the facilitation of the TB programme on our farms, which benefits all stakeholders in the agriculture sector and beyond. All of these must contribute to the funding of the programme.

Long-standing agreements are in place in relation to liability to pay for testing on our farms. As farmers, we are liable to pay for one test in a calendar year at no shorter interval than ten months. Any other additional supplementary testing requirements are the responsibility of the Department. We will not be deviating from this position.

The IFA is acutely aware of the importance of maintaining the hard-won, high-health status of our national livestock herd as a major exporter of agricultural produce. Farmers have and continue to support the efforts of the Department in eradicating TB from the national herd at an enormous direct and indirect cost. The IFA is demanding the eradication of TB from the national herd in the shortest feasible time. However, this cannot be achieved by further increasing the enormous and disproportionate cost burden on farmers. The main contributing factors to TB spread can be addressed in a practical and effective way that takes account of the farming dynamic in Ireland and the critical importance of animal movements and live exports.

The IFA is actively engaged with the TB forum process with the clearly outlined objective of eradicating TB from the national herd while minimising the impact of controls on our farmers. We have the tools at our disposal to achieve significant reductions in the levels of TB and, ultimately, eradication. While science is important and we must always seek to improve what we do, we cannot lose sight of the measures that have proven effective in the past. We must have the wildlife programme fully resourced to ensure the enhanced programme that has been agreed is fully implemented throughout the country. We must address the deer issue before it starts to contribute to disease spread to the same extent as badgers. Farmers must be fairly compensated for the impact of the controls and animal losses on their farms. The funding model must recognise the full value of farmers' contribution to the programme and include those outside the farm gate who are beneficiaries of the programme but currently do not contribute.

I thank the Chairman and committee members for their attention. We will be delighted to take questions.