Council calls for department briefing amid rising TB fears in Wicklow

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

Wicklow County Council has asked senior Department of Agriculture officials to attend a future meeting after councillors raised concerns about rising bovine TB levels in the county.

The motion, tabled by Cllr Gerry O’Neill and seconded by Cllr Joe Behan, was passed unanimously, after members from both east and west Wicklow detailed the scale of herd losses and the growing fear within farming communities.

Introducing the motion, Cllr O’Neill said the situation in Wicklow had become “out of proportion” compared with national trends, despite official figures suggesting TB levels across the country remain relatively low.

He told the meeting that recent data from the Department of Agriculture showed 20pc of cattle in west Wicklow and more than 12pc in east Wicklow had at least one TB reactor, describing the numbers as “crazy” and “absolutely outrageous”.

Herd incidence, the measure published by the Department of Agriculture, refers to the percentage of herds in which at least one animal has tested positive for TB.

In some cases, he said, farmers had lost hundreds of animals in a matter of weeks, with four farms in his own area suffering devastating losses in the past two months alone.

Cllr O’Neill said the county’s deer population remained the “biggest carrier” of TB and argued that years of discussion about culling, fencing and management had produced no meaningful improvement.

Wicklow, he said, had “way above everyone” in terms of deer numbers, and the impact on cattle herds, fodder supplies and road safety was now impossible to ignore.

He cited two fatal road collisions last year involving deer and said the local authority was obliged to confront the issue.

He also raised concerns about the human health dimension, telling colleagues that two people in his area had recently been diagnosed with TB.

One man in his fifties, he said, had suffered spinal and neurological complications and is now in a wheelchair and unable to speak.

“It is something that is out there and is for real,” he said, adding that staff at St James’s Hospital had told him they were seeing increasing numbers of TB cases.

Cllr O’Neill also questioned what happens to cattle slaughtered after a reactor is identified in a herd, saying that when a farm with 20 animals has a positive test, “the lot are slaughtered” and enter the food chain.

He said the public was largely unaware of this and that the Department needed to explain the safeguards in place. His aim, he said, was to raise the issues, secure answers and “allay the fears” of both farmers and the wider community.

Cllr Joe Behan, who seconded the motion, said it was essential that the Department attend a meeting to explain what measures were being taken to address the situation, particularly in relation to the deer herd.

He said Cllr O’Neill had consistently raised the matter at HSE level and that the figures were “worrying”.

Cllr Behan told the chamber that 28 cases of human TB had been recorded in 2025 and that for each individual the illness could be “devastating”. He recalled the impact of TB on Irish families in the 1950s and said the issue was “very timely” and required urgent attention.

Cllr Shane Langrell also backed the motion, saying Wicklow was being “destroyed with deer” and that the problem had persisted for generations.

He described the experience of an elderly Roundwood dairy farmer whose herd had been wiped out because of TB linked to deer, saying he had farmed all his life, as had his father before him, and now felt he was “not getting anywhere” with the system.

He said the losses were not confined to the west of the county and that farmers on the east coast were facing similar pressures.

Cathaoirleach of Wicklow County Council Cllr Melanie Corrigan. Photo: Michael Kelly

Cathaoirleach Melanie Corrigan added her own support, saying her family had also been forced to remove cattle from their land because deer were consuming fodder before livestock could reach it.

She said neighbouring farms had experienced the same problem and that councillors were hearing similar accounts across the county.

She suggested that, in addition to the Department of Agriculture, representatives from deer management bodies should be invited to give a presentation on what actions were being taken locally.

The motion was agreed without dissent, and the council will now write to the Department requesting that officials attend a future meeting to address members’ concerns.

Councillors said they wanted clarity on the role of wildlife in TB transmission, the effectiveness of the 15 TB management units currently in place, which Cllr O’Neill said cost €900,000 a year, and the supports available to farmers who have lost entire herds.

They also said the Department must explain how reactor cattle are processed and provide assurances about food safety.

The debate underscored the depth of frustration among Wicklow’s farming community and the political consensus that the county’s TB problem has reached an unsustainable level.

Members said Wicklow was being “hammered” by the disease and that without decisive intervention, both the agricultural sector and public confidence would continue to suffer.

The discussion ended with agreement that the council would lead the way in seeking answers and pressing for stronger action on deer control, wildlife management and TB prevention across the county.