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CALLS TO END Ireland’s controversial badger culling programme intensified in the Dáil yesterday after TDs raised serious concerns about the government-licensed practice.
It followed revelations by The Journal Investigates that over 80% of badgers destroyed as part of the Department of Agriculture’s TB eradication strategy were free of the disease.
In a debate marking National Biodiversity Week, Jennifer Whitmore of the Social Democrats and People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy both questioned the scientific basis of the killing programme and its impact on biodiversity commitments.
Speaking to Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan, Whitmore highlighted contradictions at the heart of current policy.
“This matter is in the news at the moment. It is another instance where a species that is protected under the Wildlife Act is also being hunted or killed under that Act,” she said.
“The evidence is clear that the culling of badgers is not impacting on or reducing the incidence of bovine TB on farms.”
The TD added that while bovine TB outbreaks are having a “devastating” effect on Irish farmers, “we need to work with them to make sure that the solutions that are put forward are actually working”
“They are not working at the moment,” she added.
Referencing The Journal Investigate’s investigation, Murphy criticised the “the ongoing slaughter of badgers by the Department of Agriculture.”
“The Department has killed more than 66,000 badgers in the past ten years. The way the badgers are killed is horrific.
“They are trapped in snares leading to internal organ damage, ruptured bladders and even disembowelment. This includes pregnant and lactating badgers, leaving their cubs to starve to death.”
The TD also referred to figures obtained by The Journal Investigates, which showed how more than 4,300 foxes were mistakenly snared in controversial Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) badger traps.
He added: “According to opinion polls, in excess of two thirds of people in Ireland want it banned as well.
“England has promised to phase out killing badgers and replace it with a vaccination programme following scientific research that found that all the slaughter had no significant impact on bovine tuberculosis incidents in cattle.”
The Journal has contacted DAFM for comment on the TDs’ remarks.
Referring to DAFM research indicating that vaccination is “no less effective than culling”, Murphy said the real cause of the country’s bovine TB epidemic “is not badgers,” but the expansion of industrial farming and larger dairy herds.
The People Before Profit politician also questioned the rationale behind the current culling policy.
He said: “The Department of Agriculture admits that killing badgers is not sustainable in the long term due to its ultimate impact on badger ecology.
“It knows it does not work to control bovine tuberculosis.
Why on earth did it then slaughter more than 7,000 badgers last year, which was the highest number in a decade?
Concluding his statement, Murphy asked the Minister of State to if he would commit to ending the “irrational, State-sanctioned cruelty and biodiversity destruction”.
On Wednesday, The Journal Investigates revealed that of the 10,301 badgers culled and tested in the last five years, 8,211 were found to be clear of mycobacterium bovis – the bacteria that causes bovine tuberculosis.
Figures obtained under Access to Information on the Environment also revealed how a total of 7,319 badgers were culled by DAFM in 2024 alone – the highest number recorded in the last 10 years.
In total, over 66,000 badgers have been destroyed since 2014, despite a 2018 government pledge to phase out the killings in favour of vaccination.
The investigation comes as Irish farmers continue to battle soaring TB rates on farms, with many experiencing a huge financial and emotional toll as a result.
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Patricia Devlin is an investigative reporter with The Journal Investigates.
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