Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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731. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he can provide further details on the cross-Border pilot Regional Cooperation Programme on tackling bovine TB announced as part of the Shared Island Programme; and if the €6.4 million allocated to it will come out of his Department’s TB eradication programme budget. [65748/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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My Department and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland are cooperating on enhancing bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication.

Without sustained and coordinated intervention, the level of bTB, rising in recent years both North and South, will continue to increase, adversely affecting both jurisdictions on the island. Agricultural integration and inter-connection, as well as spread of disease through wildlife, mean that it is necessary to work cooperatively on a cross-border basis to arrest spread of the disease.

The proposed measures provide a proof of concept of a regional approach to TB eradication where all elements of TB eradication are executed intensively in a targeted area with a view to expanding the area under intervention. This will reduce disease levels, reactor numbers and exchequer spending on bovine TB overtime in both jurisdictions. Moreover, proving that the concept of a regional approach can be successful on the island can form the basis for extending the approach to disease eradication to other regions in both jurisdictions in the future.

The additional funding of €6.4 million is in addition to my Department's TB eradication programme budget.