Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister. It is stark. That 36% increase really brings home the huge difficulty currently. Wildlife control is one of the serious impacts on all of this. We have to get to grips with the reality. In some parts of the country it is deer; in other parts of the country it is badgers. There are issues there that need to be dealt with.

The vaccination programme has also been a failure in respect of that. It simply has not worked. I wonder, particularly in blackspots where we have serious outbreaks, whether we should have a mandatory blood testing of all animals rather than just the skin test that is there at the moment. Is that something that needs to be considered?

The vaccination of animals at birth is something I know has not been rolled out anywhere yet. It is something we seriously need to look at as a method of control, that we can have the BCG vaccine for all calves when they are born and that would control them into the future. I know there will be issues the Minister will raise with regard to traceability, and whether they will have the same test for a positive in that respect as if they have got the TB from wherever else. I think there can be unique tracers put on the animals at the time they are given the vaccination. Everything needs to be considered because what we have done at the moment has simply failed.

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