Debate contribution: Bovine TB

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 19 November 2024.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

19 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Bovine TB

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4666301

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It is telling that the Minister and, indeed, the motion dance around the main issue. We often talk about the need to address the elephant in the room. In this case, there is a need to address problems that, in the main, are caused by badgers. If the Assembly and the Minister are to get serious about addressing bovine TB, a badger cull must be introduced. The evidence supporting that move is clear. Farmers take all the preventative measures that they can, but, given that we know that 21·3% of roadkill badgers from across the Province have been found to be infected by bovine TB, it is obvious that farmers are operating with one hand tied behind their backs. That 21·3% figure almost certainly underestimates the true prevalence of infection in badgers, given the limitations of post-mortem testing. That level of infection is more than 20 times higher than that found in cattle. Badgers, acting as a reservoir for TB, continue the cycle of infection, making it impossible to eliminate the disease from cattle populations. A recent analysis of a badger-culling intervention in England estimated a reduction of around 56% in culled areas. The report states:

"The current analysis and other work strongly suggest that reducing transmission from the badger population reduces TB ... rates in local cattle."

Similarly, a report from the Irish Republic found:

"There is little doubt that badgers are a maintenance host with a spillback to cattle ... essentially an upstream driver of infection".

If we look beyond the British Isles, we find that Australia and New Zealand succeeded in controlling bovine TB in livestock through TB control programmes with a focus on wildlife intervention. New Zealand achieved TB-free status through the inclusion of a culling strategy of the brush-tailed possum. If the Minister is not going to address bovine TB through culling, I ask him to detail in his response his thoughts on the TB vaccine that the University of Cambridge and Pennsylvania State University are developing. The University of Cambridge research finds that vaccination not only reduces the severity of TB in infected cattle but reduces its spread in dairy herds by 89%. Andrew Conlan stated:

"Our study suggests that vaccination not only reduces the progression of the disease, but that if vaccinated animals become infected, they are substantially less infectious to others."

Regardless of whether your preference is for culling or a future vaccine, no one can deny the damage that TB is doing to our farms or that action must be taken. Unless, or until, the Minister is prepared to tackle transmission by badgers, the future of farms and farmers' livelihoods will continue to be put at risk because of the badger.

450 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:37 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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