Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has welcomed what she described as an “excellent and timely piece of work” by AgriSearch, examining the evidence behind DAERA’s proposed wildlife intervention options for bovine tuberculosis (bTB).

The DUP Agriculture spokesperson said the findings should provide a crucial benchmark for DAERA as it considers how Northern Ireland can finally get to grips with a disease which continues to devastate cattle herds and farming families.

Ms Lockhart said: “AgriSearch deserves considerable credit for producing this detailed and independent assessment of the evidence, which follows on from the UFU, LMC and Dairy Council NI-funded report unveiled by The Andersons Centre in April this year.

“DAERA should be adopting this information unless it’s officials have alternative, proven figures which can demonstrate that the true cost of bovine TB is much greater than they initially anticipated.”

The MP added: “The cost to the public purse was an estimated £60m in 2024-25, but it is increasing year after year. For far too long DAERA has failed to properly account for the environmental costs and the enormous financial burden carried by individual herd owners.

“Farmers are losing cattle, losing income, losing valuable genetics and spending huge sums dealing with movement restrictions, testing, housing, feeding and the wider consequences of herd breakdowns. The Andersons Centre values the indirect costs at £96.1m.”

Carla Lockhart also acknowledged the significant mental and emotional toll that bovine Tuberculosis has farming families.

She continued: “Bovine TB has been raging across Northern Ireland for more than six decades. It is very obvious that the Department’s current approach is not delivering meaningful progress. We have been testing and removing infected cattle for decades, yet the disease reservoir remains firmly entrenched.

“I have responded to DAERA’s wildlife intervention consultation, making it very clear that I support non-selective culling in targeted areas as part of a comprehensive strategy to tackle bTB.

“There is evidence from elsewhere that targeted, affordable and non-selective badger culling can deliver a significant reduction in TB within cattle populations over a relatively short timeframe. If Minister Muir is serious about controlling and ultimately eradicating this disease, he cannot continue to ignore the wildlife reservoir.”

Ms Lockhart emphasised that the Department has grossly underestimated the badger population in Northern Ireland. She praised the ongoing work conducted by Professor Jaimie Dick and the team at Queen’s University Belfast, which is providing a much more accurate interpretation of badger numbers across the Province.

The scientists have been using thermal binoculars and drones to monitor badger setts at night. Their research shows that TB hotspot areas can have twelve to eighteen badgers in one square kilometre.

Carla Lockhart MP added: “Badger density matters enormously when assessing the likely effectiveness and cost of any intervention. If the population is significantly larger than DAERA has assumed, then the costs associated with Test, Vaccinate and Remove (TVR) strategy, or the vaccination-only option, will be considerably higher, while delivering very limited gains in terms of reducing disease in cattle.

“We have already seen two previous trials which generated very little proven benefit to the cattle population. We cannot keep spending millions of pounds of public money on measures which fail to address the fundamental problem.

“We need to use every tool in the box. That means effective cattle controls, improved biosecurity and addressing the wildlife reservoir.”

She explained: “Other countries have undertaken conservation culls to manage wildlife populations and have achieved very low or zero reported incidence of bovine TB. The principle is straightforward: if we can reduce badger density then it should reduce the disease reservoir to a manageable level.

“We already know that Bovine TB is a complex disease, but the uncertainty surrounding it is no excuse for continued inaction.”

“If DAERA is serious about combating and eventually eradicating bovine TB in Northern Ireland, then difficult decisions are going to have to be made,” stressed the MP.

“Farmers have waited long enough! The status quo is not working. We need a properly evidenced, accurately costed and measured programme which tackles the disease at every level."

“Eradication will not be achieved until DAERA addresses badger density and reduces the infection reservoir within wildlife. The AgriSearch review, alongside The Andersons Centre work, gives DAERA an important evidence base from which to make that decision. This valuable research simply cannot be dismissed. Minister Muir and his Department need to act now.”