It is anticipated that badger removal will reduce from the current 6,000 badgers per year to less than 1,000 in four or five years’ time, said Agriculture Minister Michael Creed in the Dáil last week.

Some 70 badgers have been culled in an area in south Kerry which suffered the worst bovine TB outbreak in living memory, the Department of Agriculture has said.

Tunnelling badgers have forced the closure of a road in England which has started to sink, and it may remain shut until the badger breeding season finishes in summer.