asked the Taoiseach if he will give details of the reduction in dairy cow numbers from April, 1987 to May 1988.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dairy Cow Numbers.
10.
The latest information on the number of dairy cows in the State relates to December, 1987 when the estimated number was 1,443,600. This represented a fall of 46,800 or 3.1 per cent on the corresponding figure for December 1986.
In the light of that fall, would the Minister of State arrange to pressurise his colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, to realise the full significance of that fall and the need to introduce a comprehensive series of measures to compensate by developing our beef cow herd?
The Question is essentially a statistical one and the Deputy should put his question to the appropriate Minister.