Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the witnesses for their contributions. I read their opening statements. The key thing I get from the discussion is that there is a great focus on wildlife. Naturally, farmers are going to look to that as one of the key issues. However, from what I hear, the Department is saying that there are 50 times more cattle in the country than badgers. The number of cattle in which TB was detected is 42,970. If we assume some escape that, you are probably talking about 50,000 to 55,000 cattle so TB is detected in approximately 1% of the cattle population. Do a similar number of badgers carry TB? Would it be 1% to 2% of badgers? Does the Department have any idea?