Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I wish to raise an issue that I raised last week, just as my colleague Senator Paraic Brady has. After 70 years of failed policy, the Minister for agriculture is going to rush through ill-thought-out proposals made at the TB stakeholder forum. The IFA recently published a report revealing that TB compliance is costing Irish farmers €150 million annually. The Minister cannot talk about new proposals for TB eradication and leave farmers footing the bill without evidence that they will work. If the Department is planning on bringing in additional mandatory testing for herds, it needs to fully cover the cost of it. Farmers are incredibly worried about suggestions of increased restrictions and blacklisting of herds. I appreciate the Minister is trying to move quickly on this but it should not be implemented so quickly that farmers barely have a chance to critique or question the new proposals. One farmer at the stakeholder meeting asked whether farmers were there to dot the i's and cross the t's or whether there was genuine engagement. Unfortunately, some farming organisations that made submissions were not invited to the forum. All stakeholders should have been invited. The reality is that the Department is telling farmers that they will have to restrict their herds further, while also suggesting that they have special marked sales for high-risk animals. This is a total contradiction. There will still be movement. The only difference is that farmers will be getting a much lower rate for their beast. Another shocking proposal involves the denial of compensation for farmers who buy or keep high-risk animals. The Department seems intent on using a stick rather than a carrot when it comes to TB eradication. These proposals will do little to address the increase in reactor rates but will financially cripple farmers. The Minister should ensure that any new proposals are entirely evidence based. The priority needs to be protecting family farm incomes.