“I’ve got a 9% increase in my budget, one of the biggest across Government,” said Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon. Some €85m, more than half of all that new money is for TB. Will it address spiralling reactor numbers?

“I want to take the biggest step change in approach to bovine TB. I don’t believe I would have had €85m of new money for TB if I didn’t have a clear plan, if I was going in with an ask of just more money.

“It will fully fund my commitments; our latest modelling anticipates 62,000 reactors next year.

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“There are a lot of increased supports for farmers, increased biosecurity measures, increased investment in wildlife control, so the total cost has come to €157m.

“My plan will mean we will have this increased cost for the next two years, then we’ll see a reduction in the number of reactors, and I’ll have more capacity to spend on different areas,” he added.

TAMS gets €88m for 2026. Does the minister think this will allow a significant amount of new applications next year?

“It’s hard to model TAMS expenditure, I have to manage my overall TAMS budget out to the end of 2027.

“There is a significant lag from when people get approved to when they do the works and when they draw them down.

“That €88m allows me to meet all my commitments based on the application process, but I did flag during the summer that I do have to manage the TAMS budget in this tranche. TAMS is really popular, with 6,100 applications under the latest tranche. That level of demand is creating its own pressures as well.”

The Sheep Welfare Scheme is being retained, with funding reduced from €22m to €20m. With reduced ewe numbers, will the €13/ewe payment be maintained?

“I know there was concern that the livestock sector would be impacted by demands to support the tillage sector and others.

“In 2025, we’ve had €131m for all of our livestock schemes, an increase on previous years, and I’ve secured €131m for our livestock schemes next year.

“You have the two sheep schemes, the National Beef Welfare Scheme, SCEP and the dairy calf scheme.

“These are all demand led schemes, I’m still waiting for figures around the uptake of them, that will impact [on payment levels].”

“This is the first budget of five that I hope to bring in.

“I have a very clear plan for where I want to bring the agriculture sector, I think we have a really good base now to work on.