Minister rejects Wicklow-specific TB plan despite county’s escalating disease levels

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon has ruled out introducing Wicklow-specific bovine TB controls for deer, using a written parliamentary reply to restate the government’s reliance on national deer management structures, even as official figures show the county recording some of the highest TB levels in the country.

Responding to two questions from Wicklow TD Edward Timmins, the minister declined to accept that a “material implementation gap” exists in the 2025 Bovine TB Action Plan in respect of deer in Wicklow, despite the comptroller and auditor general’s finding that wild deer are a significant infection source in the county.

Deputy Timmins had asked whether the minister would publish a Wicklow-specific deer/TB intervention plan and establish a dedicated Wicklow deer and TB action group with measurable population and disease reduction targets. The minister did not commit to either proposal.

Instead, he pointed to the 2023 Irish Deer Management Strategy, its 16 recommended actions and the appointment of a programme manager to oversee the creation of deer management units in “hotspot” areas.

He said the locations had now been finalised, but did not specify where the Wicklow unit is situated, nor whether it would have TB specific objectives, population reduction targets or public reporting requirements.

He said deer would continue to be culled during the hunting season and under NPWS Section 42 licences outside it, adding only that there would be a “focus on County Wicklow” in the strategy group’s work.

The reply did not address the comptroller and auditor general’s conclusion that deer are implicated in TB persistence in Wicklow, nor did it acknowledge the county’s exceptional TB incidence.

Recent Department of Agriculture figures show 20pc of cattle in west Wicklow and more than 12pc in east Wicklow had at least one TB reactor earlier this year, far above any recorded national averages.

Farmers in parts of the county have reported losing dozens or even hundreds of animals in short periods, with several herds wiped out entirely.

The minister’s reply also did not address concerns about human TB cases in the county, including two recent diagnoses in west Wicklow, one of which resulted in severe spinal complications.

Nor did it respond to questions raised locally about food safety protocols for reactor cattle, or the effectiveness of the existing TB management units, which cost €900,000 a year.

At a recent meeting of Wicklow County Council, councillors briefly revisited the issue while speaking to the chief executive. Cllr Gerry O’Neill referred to what he described as a disappointing reply from the minister’s office to an earlier TB motion, with no commitment to send department officials to answer questions.

The chief executive told councillors that government departments “very rarely” attend in person and suggested that the most effective route would be to ask local TDs to raise the matter in the Dáil.

The exchange underscored the difficulty the council has had in securing direct engagement from the department, though the discussion was short and centred on process rather than policy.