Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon said progress on reducing bovine tuberculosis (TB) means that eradication of the disease in Ireland is once again possible.

Speaking at the Agriland tent at the National Ploughing Championships today (Tuesday, September 15), the minister was asked about vets being suspended from TB testing.

Data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) shows 28 vets were suspended from TB testing between January 2024 and March 2026.

"I would challenge the perspective that if people hear of a vet being delisted for a while because they weren't in testing like the standard of testing that we expect I would challenge a sense that would shake people's confidence, that should be the opposite," he said.

"We are asking a lot of farmers but I'm asking a lot of private veterinary practitioners as well.

"I don't believe anybody deliberately goes out to maybe not be the most efficient type of testing but you might have a private vet who's done this for years who similarly shares an idea we're never going to crack this.

"When I got this job a year and a half ago you couldn't have that conversation with any credibility," he added.

Bovine TB

Minister Heydon said the Bovine TB Action Plan launched just over a year ago to curb rising disease rates is "backed by science".

"If we stick with that I guarantee you we'll be on the right road," he said.

As at June 28, 2026, on a rolling 12-month basis, herd incidence for TB stood at 5.32%, which is down from 6.4% a year previous.

The number of herds restricted was 5,300, down from 6,449 in the previous corresponding period.

Minister Heydon said the On-Farm Badger Biosecurity Scheme, which is part of the action plan, did not get the level of take-up he would have liked.

Over 1,100 applications were submitted for the scheme offered grant support for farmers towards the cost of fencing off badger setts and buying specialised feed and water troughs designed to reduce contact between badgers and cattle.

Minister Heydon confirmed that the scheme will open again for farmers next year.

Research

The minister said that one of the reasons a Covid-19 vaccine was developed so quickly was "because every scientist in the world and every country in the world was putting supports in place to support the research project".

"Bovine TB is specific to us and Britain and after that it's not a problem for anybody else.

"Australia and New Zealand effectively eradicated it, got on top of it so that means there's nobody else spending all that money on research like there was on COVID for what we have on bovine TB.

"So the money we spend in partnership with um the UK in particular and with New Zealand is really, really important in that regard," he said.