No agreement has been reached as to who will pay for any additional TB testing from next year, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association's (ICSA) animal health chair Hugh Farrell has said.

This week, the Department of Agriculture told the Irish Farmers Journal that farmers will have to foot the bill for extra testing. However, the ICSA has said that this has not been agreed with farm organisations.

“I, and other farm representatives, attended a meeting of the [TB] financial working group, a sub-committee of the TB forum, on Tuesday 30 August where this issue was discussed.

“At no point was it agreed that farmers would be responsible for paying for any additional compulsory TB testing requirements,” he said.

One test only

Farrell said that the ICSA has been consistent in its stance that farmers pay for one annual herd test and one test only.

“As far as we are concerned, this is a fundamental principle of the TB eradication programme and it must be maintained.

"Discussions are ongoing and [the] ICSA will continue to insist that the cost of any additional mandatory TB testing must be covered by the Department.

“We are also in a battle to get better rates for farmers under the income supplement, depopulation and hardship grant schemes, as well as fighting to tackle the unfair caps on compensation payments.

"We are insisting that all these issues must be tackled together and we are adamant that farmers need fair play,” he said.