Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I am happy to answer them. They are really detailed but it is very important. On the Senator's first point regarding water quality, I do not for a minute want it to sound like we are putting the blame on other people. Farmers have a role to play in terms of water quality. The point we are making is farmers are making great strides in that area and we need others to make the investment across society to make sure they do that together. We have to do this and we are not denying we have a job of work to do as farmers. We are doing it. The EPA results point to that. My Department is actively encouraging and supporting farmers through the €60 million European innovation partnership, EIP, which is doing really good work, the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, supports and a range of other supports to help farmers in that work. Farmers can do more than one thing at once. They can improve water quality while continuing to produce top quality food.

On the point the Senator made around TB, if an animal displays with lesions and has produced a negative skin test, they most likely were not infectious. As I said, our skin test is not 100% either. What happens with the lesion is the body seals off that part of the infected body and it is not spread to others. We want to get to a point where we are not identifying the lesions. We have silent carriers within the herd that are not getting picked up in the skin test. We want to root them out and get to them quicker. That is why part of what I am proposing is thousands of extra blood tests across the higher risk cohorts where it is the most beneficial to do so. That will be a really significant extra cost from my Department's budget but it is absolutely the right thing to do. At 80% efficacy for a skin test, if you layer on a blood test after that, all of a sudden it is over 90%. In the short term, that is where the interventions I am talking about would see a significant increase in the number of reactors. That will happen anyway but we want to find them early. We want to find them in the herd they are in and ensure they do not go to other herds and seed it out.

A lot of people focused on the small number of farmers selling those cattle. I understand the concerns being raised. Nobody is talking about the 94% of farmers whose herds do not have TB who buy in high-risk cattle through no fault of their own because they do not know that animal is a higher risk. Having information is absolutely key and I feel duty-bound that those farmers know what it is and know if they are bringing in a risky animal who has a much higher propensity to or chance of getting this. If we can support the farmers who are coming out of this, there are alternative routes where those animals can go.

I completely agree on the point about reports on TB testing. My plan is that farmers get their own information back after TB tests and get clear information so we have a really clear focus and a refocus on that test. On the hardship and mental health, one of my plans is to introduce a dedicated helpline where the officials who are answering the phone know TB inside out and can answer all of the specific questions.

In this debate, Deputies Aird, Cooney and Kenny, Senators Lynch, Brady and Daly and anyone who raised TB raised very specific points and questions. The stress and strain when this knocks on your door is a horrible time for farmers. I want them to get consistent, high-level support from my Department. That means bringing consistency to the regional veterinary offices, RVOs, and the district veterinary offices, DVOs. I have heard that very regularly. Some of our DVOs are brilliant. Some are a bit short on staff. I am talking about putting a 30% increase in resources into our wildlife response and into our response from the Department that will deliver the type of service that is demanded and sought.

In terms of the TB package, the Senator and I have spoken previously about the badger set and the latrine out the front. The badger does not want to meet the cattle. They tend to stay out of their way. They tend to urinate in the latrine at the front of the set and cattle are nosy by their nature. They go in, put their nose in there and nose all around it. We need to stop that happening. There are very simple, really effective biosecurity measures that farmers can implement by fencing off the set to keep the cattle back from it. That will have a very positive impact. I want to support farmers in doing that. I also want to support them in regard to water troughs and raising the level of water troughs as well. This is all significant investment that I want to put in.

On the point on hotspots, we know that if a badger moves, it will move a significant distance that could be 1 km. If we have a new road coming through an area or if we have a forest that is about to be felled, I want to have a dedicated vaccination programme that goes in and identifies those badgers. Badgers with TB need to be taken out because, other than the fact the poor badger has TB and it will not end well for them, those who do not have it are then vaccinated so that when they move, if there is going to be a significant interruption in their area, they do not spread the disease with them. A quicker response is a key part of that.