Debate contribution: Bovine Tuberculosis
Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on .
- MLA
- Mr Timothy Gaston
- Party at the time
- Traditional Unionist Voice
- Date
- 27 April 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Bovine Tuberculosis
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5508734
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The latest figures published by DAERA expose the fact that the strategy being deployed by the Minister to tackle bovine TB is failing, and failing miserably at that. Whose future is being put at risk due to that chronic failure? Is it those who champion the protection of the disease-ridden badger? Is it the Department? No. It is the hard-working farmer who sees their livelihood put at risk every time a reactor goes down on their farm. When I engage with the agri-industry, I hear that TB is the greatest concern on any family farm, due to the financial and mental health impact on it of there being reactors. Let us look at the figures for the past five years to familiarise ourselves with the extent of the bTB problem in Northern Ireland. In the past five years, 89,281 cattle have been subject to compulsory removal due to reacting to the skin test, and 7,997 cattle have been subject to compulsory removal due to a positive blood test. That means that 97,278 cattle have destroyed since 2021 due to TB. Having no problem with killing cattle, which impacts livelihoods, but being happy to protect badgers, which are the most common carriers of TB in animals, is certainly not a policy that I can support. The only data that we have to rely on to estimate the percentage of badgers infected with TB is based on roadkill. The most up-to-date figures show that 21% of the badgers killed on the roads in 2024 tested positive for TB, which, I believe, underestimates the scale of infection. The motion puts the cost to the Department of bTB at £60 million. A recent report launched by the UFU estimates the indirect costs borne by farmers at £96 million per year. That is a total cost of £156 million to the Northern Ireland economy. If we want to address the elephant in the room, we need to address the badger. We can eradicate ferrets on Rathlin Island, but we cannot even bring bTB under control. If the Assembly and the Minister are going to get serious about addressing bovine TB, he must introduce a badger cull.
The evidence is clear. Farmers can do all that they can through taking preventative measures, but if 21% of the badgers killed on our roads had TB, they are fighting a losing battle with an arm tied behind their back. An analysis of a badger-culling intervention in England estimated that there had been 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 incidence rates in local cattle."
If solely culling is not an option, what about vaccination? Research from the University of Cambridge found that vaccination not only reduces the severity of TB in infected cattle but reduces its spread in dairy herds by 89%. Even if we were to have a vaccination programme, however, we would need to run a culling programme alongside it in order to bring bTB under control finally. I have been speaking to a family who are taking part in the pilot scheme. They have not been updated on the scheme's progress since its launch. Perhaps the Minister can provide an update in his response. How many badgers caught in Northern Ireland have been put down as carrying TB? How does that figure differ from that for roadkill figures? I trust that the Minister will take note. I am surprised that the DUP amendment welcomes the allocation of funding from the Shared Island Fund to tackle bovine TB. It made no effort to remove the same reference in the motion from its amendment. The TUV's position is clear: TB must be eradicated and farmers supported, but —
— that must be done at Stormont, paid for by, and interacting with policy from, this place, rather than by piggybacking on a foreign jurisdiction to give the Minister cover to say that he is doing something about it.
671 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.06 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.95).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.96).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.06 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.04 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.12 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.07 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.95 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.06 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.96 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.04 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.85 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.09 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.02 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.02 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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