James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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721. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine what actions are being taken to mitigate the prevalence of TB in the cattle population, considering the traumatic effect is has to livelihoods and the beef industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8092/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a challenging disease to control and eradicate. I am committed to making real progress in eradicating TB because I am acutely aware of the emotional and financial trauma associated with a TB breakdown for farmers, most especially the impact it has on the livelihoods of those in both the beef and dairy industries.

The implementation of the Bovine TB Eradication Strategy 2021-2030 is overseen by the Bovine TB Stakeholders Forum along with support from three working groups – a Scientific group, an Implementation Working Group and a Finance Group to ensure all aspects of the Strategy are addressed. The Bovine TB Stakeholders Forum and its working groups comprise of representatives from across the agri-food sector, leading researchers, farming organisations and my Department.

I am committed to reducing TB incidence rates across the country. Recent years has unfortunately seen a deterioration in the incidence of this disease, however all stakeholders and I are working collaboratively to ensure that we all ensure all steps necessary to control this disease are taken. We must keep this going with the ultimate aim of eradicating TB from the herd.

The details of the TB Strategy along with details of TB Forum and working groups are available on