Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

A series of my proposals would be around changing how we deal with the current vaccination approach. The current approach has been vaccinating without testing the animal. We can now test a badger and have a result within about ten minutes. There are challenges to that on the bovine side. Where an animal tests positive, for its own sake and the sake of everyone else in the sett and the bovines, it does need to be removed, but otherwise it can be vaccinated.

I also want to do a programme of vaccination of badgers that do not have the disease ahead of big projects. Badgers by their nature, if they are disrupted, tend to move significant distances not to have to be moved again. They are quite territorial. When they move, they will move about 1 km. When we know a forest is going to be felled, a new road is going to be built or a big infrastructure project is going to happen that will upset them, we need to be vaccinating them proactively beforehand. Then when they move, they will not be bringing the disease with them and spreading it out. The Deputy will see a number of measures in this approach. I would also be interested in the Deputy sharing that data with me that she said shows badgers are not spreading TB to bovines. By all means, I will consider that in the mix as well.

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