Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has admitted that “a mad amount of money” will be spent on the TB programme in the next decade if current figures don't improve.

Speaking at the AGM of the ICMSA, the Minister said that “not far off a billion euro” would be spent on the programme over the next 10 years and expressed his misgivings that the money could be spent on better things if figures could be improved.

“Eight additional farmers a week are going down with reactors now compared to 18 months ago and that is causing considerable stress,” the Minister said in response to a question from deputy ICMSA president Lorcan McCabe on the topic.

He acknowledged the pain and frustration farm families faced when a TB outbreak occurred and told the 120 participants on the Zoom call that the figures needed to be tackled.

The Department of Agriculture recently introduced letters informing farmers of their TB risk status, but these were met with an industry backlash.

Minister expects ‘good news’ on GLAS extension

On another note, “good news” is expected from the European Commission on the Department of Agriculture's application to extend GLAS next year.

Minister McConalogue said the Commission was currently considering the application, but he expected to hear good news in the coming days and that farmers would be informed as quickly as possible about the details of extending their involvement in the scheme.

I’m proposing that as it’s an extension of a current contract, the contract in its entirety must be extended without any changes

The extension is necessary due to a delay in implementing a new CAP budget due to Brexit and COVID-19.

“I’m proposing that as it’s an extension of a current contract, the contract in its entirety must be extended without any changes - except where the land concerned has been lost due to expiry of lease or rental agreement,” the Minister said.

The current contracts are due to expire at the end of the year, but the Minister said that there would be “no gap” in funding for farmers during the rollover.

New agri pilot scheme

Like many of the speakers during the AGM, the Minister spoke about the need for greater environmental ambition.

He said that central to this was the €79m new pilot scheme the Government was introducing in 2021, which would be a results-based project to encourage environmental action from farmers who are not in GLAS.

The Minister said that there would also be provision for training to farmers next year, subject to COVID-19 restrictions, on topics relating to the environment.