David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister. Everyone agrees there is an urgent need to make major changes to the TB programme to try to get this disease back under control. We know that the Department and farmers have put forward plenty of proposals to address all sources of the disease and look at measures to mitigate its spread. Farmers are concerned that the risk-based trading ignores the most fundamental objective of stopping the spread of TB. The Department’s proposal does not stop TB spread. It merely compounds the losses for farmers who, through no fault of their own, have had TB outbreaks and are just returning to some normality on their farms and trying to get themselves going well again. They feel this risk-based trading is a hindrance.

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