Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My question might not be a fair one but I will ask it. We have been talking about this problem for 60 or 70 years and it is getting worse by the year. It is costing the taxpayer, farming organisations and farmers a fortune. What vested interest is gaining from this? We had Covid for two years and could produce a vaccination to deal with it. We cannot get anything or anybody to deal with TB in cattle.

Coillte, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and all the other State bodies are wonderful at telling the delegates' organisations what to do and how to do it, but they are not as good themselves when it comes to culling. The biggest problem I raised in the Dáil earlier in the year was that of deer on the main roads in Ballinrobe and other such areas in south Mayo. They are on the road at this time of the year. If a motorist runs into a deer, there is nobody responsible, yet the deer cannot be culled. The authorities do not want to cull them. Many farmers have experienced culls. If but one animal is reacting, the whole herd must be taken away. To me, it never made sense. The whole herd should have been tested but there was no need to take them all away and destroy them. Despite what occurs, the authorities will not destroy the badger or deer. They will not destroy what is causing a problem. This will cost about €1 billion between now and 2030. Something has to be done to make life easy for everybody, including the delegates, as taxpayers, and the taxpayers who have no interest. There must be some vested interest somewhere along the line because we do not seem to be any further on than we were 20 or 30 years ago.