Speaking to Agriland as part of our ‘On the campaign trail – General Election 2024‘ series, Fine Gael election candidate and Minister of State, Martin Heydon, sets out why it is “really obvious” that the current bovine TB eradication programme must be reviewed and that it is “not working”. He also believes that putting more money back into farmers’ pockets is “key” to addressing a number of the major challenges currently facing the agriculture sector – from succession, to keeping people on-farm in different enterprises. Minister Heydon believes that the nitrates derogation is “absolutely vital” and not just for the 7,000 families in derogation but also for other sectors that could impacted such as the tillage sector in relation to land availability.