The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has said "outdated ceilings" which value cattle lost to bovine tuberculosis (TB) need to be removed.

IFA Animal Health Committee chair TJ Maher has called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon to immediately remove the limits in the On-Farm Market Valuation Scheme.

Maher said the scheme was agreed with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and government over 25 years ago.

The scheme provides farmers losing animals as part of a TB outbreak with the ‘value their animals would be reasonably expected to attain if offered for sale on the open market’.

Valuations

However, Maher said the welcome increase in the value of cattle of all types this year means that the current ceilings are no longer fulfilling this commitment and farmers are losing out heavily.

He said that on each occasion the IFA raised this issue with the minister and his officials they were told funding had to secured for the TB programme before this issue could be addressed.

An additional €85 million was provided to address rising bovine TB levels in Budget 2026.

Maher said this now "opens the door for the minister to remove ceilings from the scheme entirely".

"The TB programme is already costing farmers €150 million annually based on the IFA/IFAC analysis of costs, for farmers losing animals to TB, which is through no fault of their own, the ceilings of €3,000 and €5,000 are adding significantly to these costs and compounding already sizeable costs and losses the TB controls are imposing on farmers.

“The minister has recently launched his TB plans, within these there are some very difficult measures for farmers to take on, implementing this plan will require the goodwill of farmers and this certainly will not be forthcoming until the minister addresses the issues with the ceilings in the live valuation scheme,” Maher said.

TB

Latest figures published by DAFM show the total expenditure on the TB programme soared to €79.4 million by the end of quarter three (Q3) this year.

The latest National Bovine Tuberculosis Statistics also reveal a 21% increase in expenditure relating to the On Farm Market Valuation Scheme by the end of Q3 this year.

Total costs for the scheme increased to €40.8 million, according to the department.