The establishment of a stakeholder group to provide DAERA with advice on the new strategy for bovine TB eradication in NI has been delayed.

A competition to appoint members to the TB Eradication Partnership (TBEP) was launched by DAERA in January with the plan being for the new body to take effect from 1 April 2018.

“The process to appoint members to the TBEP is ongoing and we hope to make an announcement before mid-May 2018,” a department spokesperson said this week.

The new body is to have a chair and six members, with two of these members coming from the farming community. However, it is understood that three individuals that were put forward for consideration by the Ulster Farmers’ Union did not make it through the first stage of the application process.

The other four members are to be made up of a representative from the processing sector, a nature conservation representative, a farm vet and someone with an appropriate scientific background.