badger snaring ireland

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has estimated that in 2024, it cost approximately €468 to vaccinate a captured badger and €660 to cull a snared badger.

DAFM said these figures was based on fixed and variable costs associated with capturing and vaccinating a single badger.

The Comptroller and Auditor General, the State’s government spending overseer, who have examined the Ireland’s bTB eradication programme – including the factors that have contributed to the recent increase in the TB rate, were issued those figures by DAFM.

A review was undertaken as to how the programme is operating, and how the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) evaluates the effectiveness of the current bTB programme.

A Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) action plan has been launched by Martin Heydon, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

The Bovine TB Action Plan Addressing Bovine TB in Ireland is in response to the increasing level of the disease in Ireland.

In 2024, over 6,000 farms were affected by a bTB outbreak as the herd incidence increased to 6.04%.

The operating cost of the national bovine TB programme stood at €100.616 million in 2024.

The publication of bTB action plan follows extensive discussions at the TB Forum and meetings between the Minister, stakeholders and farm organisations in recent months.