Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue. \Philip Doyle
The new TB implementation working group set up as part of the Bovine TB Stakeholder Forum and chaired by Dr Sean Brady had its first meeting on Tuesday.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has welcomed the discussions on how to implement the actions in the strategy, which is hoped will reduce the threat of TB to farmers.
The Bovine TB Eradication Programme is the largest animal health programme, with over nine million individual TB tests carried out each year on more than 110,000 farms.
Disease levels have been rising since 2016 and pose a threat to trade access, with trading partners regularly seeking assurances that the programme is effective.