Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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We need accountability for public money. That is our role here, certainly. I want to talk quickly about the TB eradication programme, which Deputy Colm Burke went into in a great deal of detail in the first contribution. It is a lot of money. Are we analysing it for value for money? I absolutely want to qualify that by saying, and Mr. Gleeson said it at the start, that there has been great progress. I absolutely know and understand the stress people come under when one of their herd goes down on the reactor. The pressure that applies to a farm family is absolutely massive. I am in no way downplaying that. We are setting this goal of eradication. Is that an achievable goal? I was looking at the spatial distribution of the TB restrictions in Ireland. There is a real concentration around the Border counties or at least there was in 2019. Is that still the picture? How are we judging value for money for this? I understand the importance of the programme, but can we get to a position of eradication? Is that a realistic and attainable goal? We are being asked to justify total expenditure of up to €1 billion between now and 2030.