With an annual bill to taxpayers of around £53m and record numbers of reactors taken off farms in 2023, something fundamental has to change when it comes to bovine TB. However, the confirmation on Monday from Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir that he has asked his new chief vet Brian Dooher to take a “fresh look” at the issue of TB, suggests we are in for another period of inaction relating to the reservoir of disease in wildlife.

In one regard, Minister Muir is following a similar path to some of his predecessors, who wanted to be seen to be doing something positive, without actually being decisive around a wildlife cull.

At the same time, it must be recognised that such a decision is politically difficult for the minister, given the pro-badger stance taken by the Alliance party in recent years.

However, he also has limited options going forward.

There is no point convening an expert group as that has already been done. In 2016, the TB Strategic Partnership Group produced a strategy for NI, which included culling of badgers in areas where there are high rates of disease in cattle. The wide-ranging recommendations made by that group ultimately formed the basis for the DAERA TB eradication strategy brought forward by former Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots in 2022.

Minister Muir also can’t hide behind the need to do more research, as DAERA has spent millions in recent years on various projects, including the Test, Vaccinate or Remove (TVR) study in Co Down. In theory, TVR sounds like an ideal plan, but it is too expensive and would have minimal impact.

Meanwhile, there is no silver bullet coming by way of new TB test, while work in England to develop a test to differentiate between TB-infected cattle and those vaccinated against the disease, remains years from roll-out.

The evidence is clear from England and the Republic of Ireland around the effectiveness of targeted badger culling. A “fresh look” at a potential new way forward for TB in NI is nothing other than a waste of time.