Dear Sir

Recent press and online commentary surrounding the ongoing bovine tuberculosis (bTB) crisis in NI has reignited a long-overdue public conversation.

As someone who has chaired both the TB Strategic Partnership Group (TBSPG) and, more recently, the TB Eradication Partnership (TBEP), I feel compelled to add my voice to what must now be an urgent call for action.

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It is, frankly, staggering that after more than sixty years of departmental management and an annual public spend now exceeding £60m – split roughly between compensation and control measures – we are no further on. In fact, the incidence rate of bTB today stands among the highest on record and continues to rise.

This is not for lack of analysis, advice, or effort. Numerous independent groups, including the TBEP, have worked closely with stakeholders, scientists, and officials to provide evidence-based recommendations. Chief among these has been the consistent call for a strategic, area-based wildlife intervention programme, modelled in part on the successful approach adopted by our nearest neighbour, the Republic of Ireland.

The results there speak for themselves. Through an integrated wildlife intervention strategy — initial culling followed by long-term vaccination — bTB incidence has been significantly reduced. The scientific rationale is clear, the operational lessons are available, and the outcomes are measurable.

Yet, despite having access to the same ‘toolbox’ of interventions, NI continues to hesitate. It defies logic that a farmer with infected cattle must, by law, remove those animals, while a badger sett in the same field known to harbour the same pathogen is left untouched. There is no coherent justification for this imbalance.

We must now ask why a department tasked with eradicating this disease has presided over six decades of failure. The cost is not only financial; it is measured in livelihoods lost, in public confidence eroded, and in the psychological toll borne by farming families trapped in a cycle of uncertainty and blame.

The question is no longer what to do. That is well-documented. The question is whether the political and institutional will exists to do it.

It is time to stop managing the problem and start solving it — scientifically, decisively, and with the seriousness it demands.

Yours etc,

Seán Hogan OBE, former chair of TBSPG and TBEP