Bovine TB costs soar by additional €90.9m

Jackie Cahill said the level of expense for the TB programme was disturbing and “there was no point saying it was not”.

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said the main reason for the increase in that programme was the level of bovine TB in Ireland.

A 40% rise in the cost of the bovine TB programme was described as alarming, at a meeting of the Oireachtas select committee on agriculture.

The chairman, Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill, said there had been a period when it was thought TB in cattle was on the run. The number of reactors was substantially down, but it seems that that now has been significantly reversed.