Latest news with #MartinKenny
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Equivalent of cost of national children's hospital spent on bovine TB eradication
The equivalent of the cost of the national children's hospital has been spent trying to eradicate bovine TB (tuberculosis) in Ireland and the situation is 'probably worse now' than decades ago, the Dáil has heard. Sinn Féin agriculture spokesman Martin Kenny made the claim that the current estimated cost of the hospital at €2.24 billion had been spent on schemes to eliminate the disease without success. His comments came as Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon confirmed that bovine TB levels 'have continued to deteriorate'. Compensation to farmers affected by TB was €20 million for 2020. It was €20 million for the first four months of this year. READ MORE Mr Heydon said 'herd incidence has increased from 4.31 per cent in 2022 to 6.04 per cent in 2024, resulting in a 36 per cent increase in the number of herds restricted between those two years'. Over 12 months to May 11th this year, 6.3 per cent of herds – approximately 6,000 – were affected with more than 42,200 reactor animals. 'This disease is having an impact on our farmers and their families financially but also emotionally,' Mr Heydon said. 'It is a hugely traumatic time when this hits' as he knew from his constituents 'and I know from lived experience as well'. [ Bovine TB Q&A: What is it and why is incidence of the disease increasing on Irish farms? Opens in new window ] Mr Kenny, TD for Sligo-Leitrim, said there were huge challenges 'with farmers being locked up and not able to sell or trade their animals. The efforts that have been made over the decades have not yielded results'. He asked if the eradication programme should now be called a failure. He said €75 million was spent on eradication in 2023. 'We talk about the price of the children's hospital; you are into that kind of money having been spent on trying to eradicate TB in this country. We are probably worse now than we were many decades ago.' Among the measures now proposed to address the issue is to restrict the sale of cows from herds of more than 60 that had a TB outbreak 'with three or more standards reactors in the previous three years'. But Fine Gael Laois TD Willie Aird said it would be a 'drastic move' to prevent a farmer selling his stock in a mart for up to three years. The Government backbencher said it would have a 'devastating effect' on farmers with 'a stigma attached to farmers like myself'. And there is 'no guarantee that taking a draconian step like this would have any effects'. The Minister said, however, that 'the scale of the challenge at the minute is significant and deteriorating so it cannot be business as usual' and he pointed to the €20 million cost of compensation in the first four months of 2025. 'Everything that is possible is being considered, and everything has been looked at,' Mr Heydon said. He had engaged in a deliberative process with all stakeholders over the past number of months and will meet them again later this week with a revised set of proposals. 'This has been a very deliberative process but I have made the point that this process cannot go on forever, such is the level of incidence.' Mr Kenny pointed to concerns about the spread through deer and badgers but the Minister told him the suggestion that 'wildlife is the only problem is factually incorrect'. 'There are three drivers of this disease among our bovine animals. One is wildlife, one is cattle-to-cattle transmission and the other is residual left where there is a large outbreak in a herd. If we do not tackle all three we will leave a gap in the fence for this to continue to seep through. I cannot let that happen.'
Agriland
06-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Sinn Féin urges minister to ‘defer' GAEC 2 for another year
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been urged to 'defer' the implementation of the good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC 2) for another year because of the level of uncertainty surrounding it at this time. The Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture, Martin Kenny, detailed today (Tuesday, May 6) that he has personally written to Minister Martin Heydon in relation to farmers' concerns around GAEC 2. The Sligo-Leitrim TD said: 'I have written to the minister for agriculture requesting that he defer the implementation of GAEC 2 for another year until he provides more clarity to farmers on what land falls under GAEC 2 and what implications it will have for farmers in the future. 'GAEC 2 proposals were approved last week by the EU, which determine what restrictions will be placed on farmers under GAEC 2 however farmers have been left in the dark as the proposals have not been published'. GAEC 2 GAEC 2– one of several GAEC rules that govern conditionality for payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – is described as a baseline requirement for the protection of carbon-rich soils, including peatlands and wetland. The controversial standard for the protection of wetlands and peatlands under CAP conditionality is officially in force according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). The standard entered into operation in Ireland following final approval by the European Commission on April 30. But according to Deputy Kenny, farmers are not clear about what they are required to deliver under the standard and what it will mean for their farm. 'Farmers are currently completing their Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) applications and are being asked to tick a box to say they will comply with GAEC 2 even though the majority of them are not aware if their land will be classed as peatland under GAEC 2 as they haven't been provided maps. 'Nor do they know what they are agreeing to comply with or what impact it could have on their farm into the future,' Deputy Kenny added. He said he had met with members of various farming organisations who have expressed 'serious concerns' about how GAEC 2 will play out in Ireland. 'I would urge the minister to take this issue seriously and defer GAEC 2 for another year even if it is going to incur a financial penalty. 'At the moment farmers are being asked to accept the unknown which is not acceptable,' Deputy Kenny added.
Agriland
02-05-2025
- Health
- Agriland
Emergency TB summit ‘not before time'
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture, Deputy Martin Kenny, has said that the agriculture minister's decision to call a summit to address the increasing bovine tuberculosis (TB) rates is 'not before time'. Yesterday (May 1), Minister Martin Heydon announced that he is bringing together key stakeholders to a meeting next Thursday, May 8 to discuss a reset of the TB programme aimed at addressing deteriorating TB disease levels. The minister admitted that we have reached a 'crossroads in our efforts to control and ultimately eradicate bovine TB'. TB disease levels in recent years have increased significantly. Herd incidence has increased from 4.31% in 2022 to 6.04% in 2024, a 36% increase in the number of herds restricted between 2022 and 2024. Deputy Martin Kenny said said: 'We have seen significant increases in TB rates over the past few years, rising 36% between 2022 and 2024. 'There was a total of 41,630 reactor cattle in 2024. This has a devastating impact on farm families throughout the country. We need to get real and tackle the problem – it is not before time that the minster called this summit. 'While it is stressful enough for farmers to have to send their cattle to slaughter the department has added to that stress with the delays in paying out compensation to farmers. 'The minister says that he plans to revamp the eradication plan. While this is welcome, I hope that he listens to farmers and stakeholders at this summit and takes on board what they have to say,' Kenny added. The Sinn Féin TD claimed that what the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has proposed to tackle TB thus far, is not workable for farmers but rather penalises and blames farmers for the problem. 'There can be no reduction in compensation rates, and we cannot have a situation where herds are in prolonged restrictions and the blacklisting of farmers with herd restriction categorisation,' Kenny continued. 'I hope that the minister invites farmers and stakeholders from the north to this summit as TB does not stop at the border. 'TB is a serious issue for famers in the north just as it is here. We need an all-Ireland approach to eradicating TB.'
