Results 81-100 of 311 for speaker:William Aird

Select Committee on Agriculture and Food: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Further Revised) (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: That is great news.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: Will there be speaking time for us today?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: How many minutes will we have?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: I second that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: It includes the answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: Are we all guaranteed the chance to speak?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: I ask for a guarantee, that is all.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: I thank the speakers. We are here to ask questions and we are all here for the common good to try to reduce TB in all the herds throughout the country. First of all, I sympathise with the financial stress and emotional stress on farming families when the farm is hit with TB. I know what it is like. I am a full-time farmer. I will take just a second to tell a little story. A man rang me...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: Yes. How much?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: That is 1,500 in the first year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: Can the Department outline the evidence it has gathered over the past ten years to support the effectiveness of moving from widespread badger culling to vaccination in relation to its impact on TB incidence rates in cattle herds? I have four more questions that I will put together.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: That is grand. How will the Department ensure the wildlife control programme is adequately resourced, both in staffing and budget, to meet the expanded demands for badger vaccination and the deer population management?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: They are all in the one budget.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: What steps has the Department taken to address the increasing workload and retention challenges facing private vets involved in TB testing, and particularly in high incidence regions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: What is the Department doing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: Can I put down that it is nothing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: Okay. It is engaging with Veterinary Ireland. Are there plans to introduce a pilot cattle vaccination programme - the BCG one - alongside ongoing badger vaccination? How will the inability to distinguish vaccinated from infected animals be managed in the context of creating disease surveillance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: Great. That might be positive. That is grand. How will the cost sharing model for the programme be updated to balance Exchequer, EU and farmer contributions? This is a very serious one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: And no restrictions. The Department has the money there to do it. I am just saying that-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

William Aird: It was raised over there as well. It has been raised-----