Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue is set to speak at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) next week.

The association’s AGM and National Conference 2023 will take place on Thursday (February 9) at the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise, Co. Laois.

The conference open session will commence at 5:00p.m, at which time Minister McConalogue will address attendees.

The theme of this year’s ICSA AGM and National Conference will be ‘Farming in an era of high costs and high climate ambition – can our farmers survive and prosper?’.

The minister will likely field question on a wide range of topics that are on farmers’ minds at the moment.

One of the most important topics at present, and one which the ICSA particularly has been highlighting, is new regulations for tuberculosis (TB) testing that have just come into force this week.

Under those new regulations, cattle over 36 months of age that are moving from farm to farm or through a mart must have been TB tested in the last six months, or be tested within 30 days after the movement.

The issue of who pays for any additional tests has been divisive in recent months, with the ICSA insisting that farmers should only have to pay for one annual test.

Last week, ICSA animal health and welfare chairperson Hugh Farrell said that the introduction of the regulations should have been deferred until the issue of paying for them was resolved.

According to Farrell, the regulations are also “causing chaos in the mart trade”, due to a lack of proper communication with farmers on which categories of cattle are impacted.

“ICSA has endeavoured to explain that farmers can continue to sell at marts as usual from February 1, onwards, but the fact remains that farmers are totally confused about where they stand.

“It is also important to reiterate that this only applies to animals over 36 months or to breeding animals,” Farrell said.

On the cost issue, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has said that the TB Stakeholder Forum will consider ways to address payment for tests.

“The financing of all elements of the TB programme is a matter being considered by the financial working group of the TB Forum,” a spokesperson for the department said.

It is understood that proposals to resolve the payment issue will be discussed by the financial working group next week.