Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the background to it, as I outlined, the interim report of the TB forum was important in that regard. That report advocated the development of herd risk categories that are simple, clear and convey sufficient information to enable farmers to make decisions appropriate to their situation. I know farmers have expressed concern about the letters. All of us can unite on the fact that we must address the issue of figures for positive incidences of TB increasing and going in the wrong direction. The people who are penalised and lose most from that are the farmers affected. As I said, 2,700 herds are currently restricted.

I am open to ideas on how we can address that, because we must address it to improve the situation for farmers and to work towards reaching a position where we can eradicate TB as we did with brucellosis previously. Another prompt meeting of the TB forum would be a positive move in that regard.

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