Ireland has been spending good money after bad on TB, the Minister for Agriculture has said.

Describing the state of TB in the country as “particularly dire from a farmer and public expenditure point-of-view”, Minister Charlie McConalogue has instructed the TB Forum to meet on Thursday (4 February).and its three working groups to meet in the coming weeks.

The working groups are focused on science, funding and implementation. It is understood that the finance group will be chaired by Gerry Kiely, former IFA economist and recently retired head of the European Commission’s Representation in Ireland.

IFA animal health chair Pat Farrell has called for the funding for the programme to be addressed first.

“It is not credible to seek to finalise a programme without sight of the resources that will be available to it,” he said.

From April 2021, new EU animal health laws will require that all cattle moving out of a herd undergo pre- or post-movement testing unless both the animal and the herd of origin were TB tested in the preceding six months.

Minister McConalogue warned farmers at the virtual AGMs of the IFA and ICSA: “We have been spending good money after bad on trying to drive down incidence rates with the trend currently going in the wrong direction.

Reactor numbers, on a 12-month rolling basis, have reached 22,528 and herd incidence has reached 4.32%.

Direct costs for the TB programme are close to €100m per annum.

“In the last 12 months, 4,600 farm families have experienced the hardship and stress associated with a TB breakdown. All the more reason for us to redouble our efforts to eradicate this disease,” he said.