Ms Amanda Mooney:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. I will deal only with the deer issue. There has been a sea change in the Department's view on deer. It is a result of science, which is fantastic. There was an organised cull of deer in Wicklow. Initially, 100 deer were culled and then another 50. They were tested and 17% percent of them showed up with TB. Tests showed the exact same strain that is in the bovine herd.

There is a triangle including the bovines, deer and badgers. The only ones that are constantly being tested and taken out are the bovines because we can get our hands on them. Therefore, there needs to be a co-ordinated approach between all the State agencies. The members are listening to us today and we are representing all the farmers across the country. Everybody wants to get rid of this problem. I have two adult children interested in farming. We have had numerous outbreaks of TB, which is heartbreaking. There is a financial cost but nobody talks about the emotional cost on family farms where healthy-looking animals are loaded up on a trailer and removed. We are all buying into this because we want to rid the country of TB.

The buck now stops with getting the funding to sort out the livestock. The farmers are playing their part and we will do everything we can with the bovine herd. The wildlife needs to be sorted out. A co-ordinated approach by all the bodies is needed. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine needs to fund what is needed to get this sorted. Everybody in this room and those at every TB forum I have been involved in wants a solution. Nobody wants to be here in another 20 years. There is a lot of research taking place and new technology that may provide a way out through vaccination in the future, but what we are doing is all we have in the meantime. We know a three-pronged approach is required