Mr. Liam Hanrahan:

Regarding future funding, we want there to be realistic funding costed to eradicate TB. This is what is required for the benefit of the country as a whole. As we said in our opening statement, any new measures we are seeking should be completely funded by the Department. Equally, any new measures arising in future as a result of actions taken now should also be funded directly by the Department. We are in favour of increasing the levy only when this money is passed back, via compensation, to the farmers whose herds are impacted by TB.

In reality, the true costs of the programme are currently approximately €80 million annually. To eradicate TB, we are talking about an expenditure of more than €1 billion. We have seen how this disease has been eradicated in Australia and New Zealand, and the costs of those eradication programmes increased in their later years. The costs each year for a programme like this will, therefore, definitely increase here as well. The true costs of this programme also include, as already mentioned, aspects such as farmers' time. Biosecurity costs are also a factor. Included in these are the implementation of quarantine measures for stock that are bought in, stock-proof fencing for farmers' own cattle and badger- and deer-proof fencing, as well as a possible requirement for targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grants for this element as it has a significant cost. Macra na Feirme is very much willing to work with any future measures implemented that are effective in the removal of TB.