Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is also inhumane that we have to slaughter cattle because they have TB when we know that we can get the incidence of TB down. That is no more humane than the badger cull. What is humane for me is to get TB out of the herd, which is what we are trying to do, and out of the badger population too. In that way, we will not have to target cattle and badgers. We have other questions with regard to deer in Wicklow, for example. Are they spreading TB and if they are, how can we manage that in a practical way? Can we have a targeted, humane cull to try to deal with killing off a disease that has bedevilled Irish agriculture for more than 50 years? We want to stop killing animals because they are carrying or spreading TB. The way to do that is to eradicate TB, which is what we are trying to do. That is in the welfare interests of animals as well as the interests of farming.

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