Dr. Eoin Ryan:

I will answer the question about the laboratory before the broader question because the laboratory question is a straightforward technical question. TB is a slow-growing bacteria. Unlike, say, E. coli or salmonella, which can grow in two or three days, Mycobacterium bovis takes eight to ten weeks to grow. It is a slow-growing bacteria. It grows slowly in infected animals and on agar plates. That is how long it can take to grow. If it were a sample for salmonella or E. coli, you would expect a result within three days. That is the straightforward technical answer to that question.

On the broader question, the impact of TB on affected farmers is dreadful. There is a considerable human cost and we are acutely aware of that. The Deputy will be aware that a new TB action plan was launched in September of this year with five actions and 30 sub-actions under it. That is recognising the need to do more in TB. Of course, TB is spread by the movement of infected cattle, which may be brought into herds undetected.