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The TB eradication scheme has drawn major critisicm from farmers throughout the IFA hustings and it was raised again during the Irish Farmers Journal presidential debate on Friday night.
One farmer in Clare, currently a blackspot for TB, asked what the candidates thought of the eradication scheme, saying it was more like “a farmer eradication scheme”.
Tim Cullinan asked whether, for all the time and money invested in eradicating TB, had it achieved anything? He said: “We have to talk about the real cause,” which he said was wildlife.
He said herds were being taken out because the root problem was not being tackled.
Wicklow
Angus Woods pointed to his personal experience as a farmer in Wicklow when it came to TB. He said a culling of deer showed almost 20% were infected with TB.
“We need to take a serious look at the wildlife because it’s running around freely and grazing the same ground as the livestock,” Woods said.
He said that the compensation for farmers was not sufficient and that costs had not been matched with funding.
Industry
John Coughlan agreed the compensation was inadequate. He added that there had been “an industry” made from TB testing and agreed with the other candidates that wildlife needed to be tackled.
More to follow online and it next week's paper.
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