Minister Heydon publishes Action Plan to address current high levels of bovine TB (bTB)
- Published on: 9 September 2025
- Last updated on: 24 September 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, today published a Bovine TB Action Plan to address the current high levels of disease.
The publication of this plan follows extensive discussions at the TB Forum and meetings between the Minister, stakeholders and farm organisations in recent months. Minister Heydon also received the support and approval of his Cabinet colleagues on 24 June to address the current high levels of bTB as a matter of urgency.
Minister Heydon said:
“I am very aware of the emotional and financial impacts of bTB on farmers, their families and rural Ireland. I believe that this plan will support and enable farm families who are currently dealing with the stress of a bTB outbreak to navigate a way out of a bTB restriction and protect those herds currently free from bTB from the stress of a bTB outbreak.”
The Minister stated that this Action Plan is based on scientific research and veterinary expertise and highlighted the 5 measures which are underpinned by 30 actions in the plan:
- Support herds free of bTB to remain free
- Reduce the impact of wildlife on the spread of bTB
- Detect and eliminate bTB infection as early as possible in herds with a bTB breakdown and avoid a future breakdown
- Help farmers improve all areas of on-farm biosecurity
- Reduce the impact of known high-risk animals in spreading bTB
The Minister added:
“The foundation of these measures has been scientific research, evidence and veterinary expertise. It is clear that these must be layered into the new bTB programme to tackle the current high disease levels effectively and address the three main causes of bTB outbreak which are cattle to cattle transmission, residual infection in the herd and transmission from wildlife.”
Concluding, Minister Heydon said:
“This plan provides an opportunity to address this disease and I would like to thank all farmers and stakeholders for their input in getting this plan here today. I believe that if we work together we can stop the increase of bTB in recent years and over time reduce bTB levels. We all can then look to the future and work towards our ultimate goal of bTB eradication.”
Notes
Bovine TB is a difficult disease to control and eradicate, but it can and has been done elsewhere. In recent years there has been a significant increase in bTB levels nationally, over 6,000 farm families were affected by a bTB outbreak in 2024 and herd incidence increased from 4.31% in 2002 to 6.04% in 2024. This is leading to financial and emotional stress for farmers who have suffered a bTB outbreak and for those who are living in fear of having a bTB outbreak.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has published this plan which includes 5 measures and 30 actions to address and over time reduce the current high disease levels as follows:
- Support herds free of bTB to remain free
- Reduce the impact of wildlife on the spread of bTB
- Detect and eliminate bTB infection as early as possible in herds with a bTB breakdown and avoid a future breakdown
- Help farmers improve all areas of on-farm biosecurity
- Reduce the impact of known high risk animals in spreading bTB
These measures are targeting both transmission between wildlife and cattle and transmission between cattle where the disease risk is highest in order to meaningfully reduce disease levels.
More information on the Action Plan can be found at: www.bovinetb.ie.
