Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I want to provide that clarity as soon as possible and to restore confidence in this scheme. The final set of proposals I bring forward will be the biggest change in our approach to TB in the 75 years the disease has been in this country. I have held discussions and meetings that have fed into the TB plan, which I intend to finalise the details of and publish shortly. At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 24 June, I received approval and support from my Government colleagues to address the current high level of bovine TB with this plan. The Deputy is dead right to say this will be expensive. It will cost more money in the short term. I believe it is a strong business case because I am front-loading expenditure to save money in the long run. That is definitely a case I am making, but a significant amount of money will be required. If we are successful, it will not necessarily identify more herds affected, but will identify earlier more reactors within the herds affected. We need that to happen to get them out and to stop them seeding the disease out. These new measures will require significant changes to the existing TB programme. There will be significant funding and other implications. We are currently working through the necessary preparations to implement these changes as soon as possible.

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