The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has secured £4 million from the UK Government’s Transformation Fund for a groundbreaking cross-border project to tackle bovine tuberculosis (TB). The research initiative, which has also attracted approximately £5.6 million from the Irish Government’s Shared Island Fund, represents the first regionalised approach to eradicating the costly disease across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The funding, confirmed on 27 May 2026, forms part of the final £102.6 million tranche of the £235 million Executive restoration package announced by Finance Minister John O’Dowd. Operating across the Derry City and Strabane region and north-east Donegal, the five-year pilot will test whether co-ordinated, area-specific interventions can succeed where broader national strategies have struggled to contain rising infection rates.
A Three-Pillar Strategy Targeting Wildlife, Cattle and Farmers
The project employs a holistic package of measures simultaneously targeting three transmission routes:
- Wildlife: Implementation of a “Test and Vaccinate or Remove” (TVR) approach for badgers, subject to statutory licensing. This involves capturing badgers, testing them for bovine TB, vaccinating negative animals and removing those that test positive.
- Cattle: Enhanced testing regimes including greater use of interferon gamma blood testing in breakdown herds, six-monthly skin testing pilots, and genotyping analysis for herd breeding management.
- People: Intensive biosecurity training delivered through private veterinary practitioners and the establishment of regional eradication partnership groups with local farmers.
High levels of local engagement have already been secured, with approximately 96% of farmers in the pilot area granting permission for DAERA to conduct badger sett surveys on their land since fieldwork commenced in January 2026.
Cross-Border Political and Financial Backing
The project marks the first time DAERA and Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have collaborated on bovine TB management across the border. While both jurisdictions have historically co-operated on animal health issues, this represents a new level of joint operational planning and funding.
The Irish Government’s contribution comes through the Shared Island Initiative, which has committed €2 billion out to 2035 for cross-border projects. Taoiseach Micheál Martin previously welcomed the pilot, stating: “Across the island, the challenges and opportunities we face in many sectors are both comparable and inter-connected, including in agriculture. I look forward to seeing what positive impacts this project will have in supporting farmers across the selected region to prevent and eradicate this disease.”
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon TD added: “As a single epidemiological area, it makes sense for us to tackle disease control and eradication together and, with the support provided through the Shared Island Fund, I look forward to seeing positive outcomes from this pilot project.”
Minister Welcomes “Step Change” in Approach
DAERA Minister Andrew Muir MLA, who has previously described bovine TB as the most difficult animal health challenge facing Northern Ireland, welcomed the additional UK funding. He said:
“The allocation of transformation funding, in addition to the funding already committed by the Irish Government under the Shared Island Initiative, is very welcome. International experience has shown that no country has been successful in substantially reducing or eradicating bovine TB without the progression of a regionalisation approach. Up until now such an approach for tackling bovine TB has not yet been tried on the island of Ireland. Successful completion of this project will help develop further evidence on which to base future deployment of measures within the wider bovine TB Programme.”
The Minister’s comments reference international models, particularly New Zealand’s successful regionalisation strategy which reduced infected herds from approximately 1,700 to just 11 over three decades through co-ordinated wildlife control and cattle management.
Context of Rising Costs and Previous Strategies
The pilot arrives amid unsustainable financial pressure. DAERA forecasts that bovine TB compensation alone will exceed £56 million for the 2025/2026 financial year—funded at 100% of market value—while the overall programme cost including testing and administration runs significantly higher. Herd incidence in Northern Ireland stands at approximately 10.66%, having risen from 10.21% the previous year, with 14,105 reactor animals detected since the start of 2025.
Despite previous attempts to tackle the disease—including a Bovine TB Eradication Strategy launched in 2022 and a TB Partnership Steering Group Blueprint published in April 2025—implementation has been fragmented. The Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs noted in February 2026 that DAERA had bid for £24 million for TB programme delivery but received only £6.8 million in the draft budget, raising questions about how the new pilot will be resourced long-term without compromising other statutory obligations.
Furthermore, while the TVR approach avoids the widespread culling overturned by the High Court in previous years, it remains controversial. Research indicates that disturbing badger populations can cause “perturbation”—increased ranging behaviour that potentially spreads disease further—though studies in medium-density populations like Northern Ireland suggest this risk may be lower than in high-density English populations.
Critical Questions for Stakeholders
As the project moves from announcement to implementation, several questions remain unanswered:
- Success Metrics: What specific reduction in herd incidence or reactor numbers must be achieved over the five-year period to justify rolling the approach out nationally, and what happens if these targets are not met?
- Farmer Incentives: Given that research suggests cattle-to-cattle transmission is the primary driver of recent increases, why does Northern Ireland maintain 100% compensation rates that may reduce incentives for stringent biosecurity, and will this pilot address that policy tension?
- Ethical and Ecological Safeguards: With badger removal contingent on testing positive, what protocols ensure humane treatment, and how will officials monitor for perturbation effects that could paradoxically increase disease spread in the short term?
- Long-term Funding: With the Transformation Fund representing one-off restoration package money and DAERA’s core budget under severe pressure, how will the Department sustain these intensive interventions beyond the pilot phase if they prove successful?
- Cattle Vaccination: While the pilot focuses on badger intervention and enhanced testing, when will effective cattle vaccination—repeatedly called for by farming representatives—become available to complement these measures?
The project is scheduled to run for five years, with officials from both jurisdictions currently engaging in detailed scoping exercises for research strands. Farmers and veterinary practitioners in the Derry, Strabane and Donegal areas can expect contact regarding biosecurity training and testing protocols in the coming months as the regional partnership groups are established.