The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has said today (June 12) that he will reach a "final point" for his plan to control TB "very soon".

Speaking to Agriland from Expo 2025, in Osaka, Japan today (June 12), the minister said that he has reflected on the points made by stakeholders and farming organisations, and that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is "still teasing out" some issues.

Minister Heydon said: "All stakeholders have a lived experience of dealing with TB for a very long time, I want there input. Ideally I would have consensus when I come to a final point. That point is very very soon.

"That all has a very significant price tag to it. I don’t have that money in my budget, I have to get it and get approval for it. If I’m going to spend, that I have to make sure that I’m going to get the return from this, in terms of our farmers facing less instances of TB in the future," the minister added.

According to Minister Heydon, the short term results of being successful in controlling TB, would see "an increase in reactors".

He explained that this is a process that "needs" to happen in order to find the residual disease that currents tests "haven't been finding".

Minister Heydon said: "An increase in reactors doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in the amount of herds that would be affected, but there would be more residual left behind that we’re missing at present.

"We need a series of interventions, with significant increases in investment that protects the 94% of farmers that don’t have TB from getting it, and gives us a clear pathway for the 6% of herds that are affected by TB," the minister explained.

Additional reporting by Stella Meehan.