Dr. June Fanning:

I am confident we can eradicate bovine TB. It can be done. However, as I said, there are a number of difficult decisions that have to be made. It is not a disease that is easy to eradicate. We have done very well to sustain the low levels we have in light of the significant expansion of the dairy herd and the things that go along with that, including increased movements and increased intensification, all of which are factors that lead to more susceptible animals. A huge body of work has been done, including in initially getting down to the low levels we had in 2018, which was the lowest level we ever had, but also in more or less maintaining that level since then. The reactor numbers are up slightly but herd incidence is down. That shows we are having fewer herd breakdowns but there are more animals going down within those herds.

TB can be eradicated. The TB forum and the working groups that go along with it have made huge progress in getting all the stakeholders involved. Previous studies and audits prior to 2018 showed that one of the things the eradication programme fell down on was in respect of the involvement of stakeholders. When there are difficult decisions to be made, we must have everyone at the table. We must have the hard conversations around what options to choose. If we were to be very draconian about it, decide the measures ourselves and just say we are going to do this and this is how it is going to be, the curve in eradication would be a lot easier, quicker and sharper. However, with the model we have now, involving the TB forum and the working groups, I am confident the disease can be eradicated. It needs the buy-in and involvement of all stakeholders.