The number of dairy animals found to have failed the TB eradication test in 2021 was 11,502, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said.

2021 figures are representative of 1 January to the 6 December this year.

Dairy farms had the highest number of reactors compared to any other enterprise over the last three years.

The figure was 12,440 for the year 2020 and 8,837 for the year 2019

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture the number of animals found to have failed the TB eradication test in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021 recently in the Dáil.

The number of suckler herd reactors was 5,894 for the year 2019, 7,275 for the year 2020 and 5,816 for the year 2021.

Beef farms had less reactors than dairy and suckler enterprises, with 1,989 reactors in 2019, 2,332 for the year 2020 and 1,829 for the year 2021.

The number of herd reactor animals in 'other' enterprises were the lowest of the lot, with 347 for the year 2019, 515 for the year 2020 and 471 for the year 2021.

In the overall sense, total reactor numbers was 17,067 for the year 2019, 22,562 for the year 2020 and 19,618 for the year 2021.

The Minister said that herd incidence has risen every year between 2016 and 2020.

"This disease causes untold hardship for farmers and farming families, and although the challenge is serious, my Department [Agriculture], working together with stakeholders and engaging with farmers, are committed to eradicating this disease," he said.

A new bovine TB eradication strategy 2021-2030 was launched earlier in the year.

The implementation of this strategy is overseen by the TB stakeholder forum with support from three new working groups on science, implementation and finance to ensure that all aspects of the strategy are addressed.

The Minister said: "As part of my on-going commitment to eradicating this disease, I have sanctioned an additional €1m in funding for the wildlife programme which is an integral element of the overall programme.

"There are positive indications of progress, with the TB situation for 2021 likely to represent an improvement compared to 2020 and, working together, we can build on that momentum."