Deputy Paul Connaughton gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter regarding a County Longford exporter of live lambs and the obstacles which have been put in his way.
Adjournment Debate. - Live Lamb Exports.
I thank you very sincerely for giving me this opportunity. I ask you to allow my colleague, Deputy Belton of Longford-Westmeath to say a few words. Because this is his maiden speech, if it does not upset the ruling of the House I would like to let him speak first.
Is that satisfactory? Agreed. Especially as this is the Deputy's maiden speech we welcome him very much and wish him success.
Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. I have been contacted by a constituent on this matter. He is a small exporter who has been in the export business for the past number of years and has carried on a successful business without any interference from the Department in regard to irregularities. However, like many exporters, he has experienced some difficulties and the Department officials have been most helpful on a few occasions in the past.
Last Friday this man was to export sheep from Rosslare but due to unsuitable weather the sailing could not take place and he had to put the sheep in layerage until Sunday when there was to be another sailing. However, on Sunday, due to restrictions within the Department, the officials could not inspect the sheep and my constituent could not export his sheep. This was an enormous loss to him as he had to pay for a lorry, for space on the ship and also for the layerage of the sheep. We hear a lot about export markets and so on and sheep farmers are experiencing quite a tough time at present. This man was building up a very useful market. I would ask the Minister and his officials to put in place a contingency plan to cater for events like this in the future.
This problem came to my notice about six weeks ago. This small, courageous exporter who identified a very good market in Spain for live lambs got an agent and did everything humanly possible to comply with the disease regulations. I want to put on the record that so far as the veterinary staff of the Department are concerned, they bent over backwards to encourage these exports to Spain.
When this exporter arrived at the frontier near Barcelona he was told of a new twist to the veterinary regulations. He was asked for certification that the sheep were free from a particular type of brucellosis, a disease that sheep in Ireland never had and do not have now. This was completely out of the blue as far as this man was concerned. In fairness to the veterinary section, they contacted the Irish Embassy as well as other places, but after five days' haggling outside the frontier post the lambs had to be redirected at great loss to the exporter. These were small, mountain sheep for which there is a very bad trade in this country at the moment and it was like manna from heaven to find this market. There has been so much talk about boundary free Europe in the coming years and free markets, but it certainly was not obvious in this case.
This man then identified another market in Belgium for heavy ram lambs which are no good for the French trade; even our domestic butchers are not very interested in them. We have a good number of these animals and because this man identified a market for it, it meant a greater return to farmers generally. On this occasion he made sure he checked the veterinary specifications before leaving for Belgium. The Belgian veterinary authorities, it appears, have not heard about free trade either. They decided that there would have to be certification that the sheep were free of foot rot. I will not be too technical about this but basically if sheep are lame they have foot rot. Our veterinary people are extremely strict about the export of such animals and they would not have allowed them to be exported. After contact with different embassies that problem was overcome but worse was to follow.
On Friday morning when the sheep were to be loaded at Rosslare, something outside everybody's control — the seas which were very rough — prevented the ship from sailing and the ship's captain decided it would be better to wait until Sunday. However, the sheep could not be exported on Sunday because the Department officials do not work on Sundays. The exporter who had to pay the necessary fees then had to wait until the next morning's sailing. Unless there is a huge market in Belgium, the profit from this cargo of lambs will be nil and the exporter concerned will be at a great loss.
My reason for highlighting this matter is that if we are serious about exports — and we all have to be in an agricultural producing country like ours every effort must be made to deal with contingencies like this. It was nobody's fault that the seas were rough on Friday but surely arrangements could have been made to export the sheep on Sunday. Otherwise the person involved should have been compensated. I fully understand that there have to be laws and regulations but it is highly unfair to a small, courageous, exporter like this that something like this should be allowed to happen. I raised this matter because I want to ensure that there will not be a repetition of it. I hope there is no in-built bias in the Department — I believe there is not — against the export of live sheep. I would be very disappointed if that was the case. I believe there is no such bias and I ask the Minister to ensure that there is no recurrence of this problem in the future.
At the outset, let me thank Deputies Connaughton and Belton for raising this matter. I also wish to congratulate Deputy Belton on his maiden speech. It is a very honourable thing to raise a matter for a constituent and if the Deputy continues to be so diligent he will be coming back here for some considerable time.
There are two separate issues before us. The first relates to a problem that arose last September when a consignment of 699 live sheep from Ireland were refused entry to Spain because the Spanish authorities were not satisfied with the certification provided by the Irish veterinary authorities. The fact is that trade in live sheep is not yet harmonised within the Community and we have to comply with the importing countries' regulations.
Up to that time the Spanish authorities were prepared to accept the certification prescribed by them for the importation of sheep for slaughter. The sheep were in fact destined for slaughter after a limited period of feeding. On the occasion of the refusal, however, the Spanish authorities insisted on certification for breeding and production which would involve a series of tests before export for diseases which are not yet in Ireland, that is brucella, melitensis, brucella ovis and maedivisna. The veterinary staff of the Department of Agriculture and Food, and I am glad this was acknowledged by both Deputy Connaughton and Deputy Belton, made every effort to convince their Spanish counterparts of Ireland's freedom from these diseases but to no avail.
That is true.
I appreciate that very much. In the event the exporter had to find another market for these sheep and fair play to him he found a market in Belgium. An official request has since been sent to the chief veterinary officer for Spain to have Ireland's freedom from the diseases in question recognised for the purpose of future trade in sheep with Spain and a reply is awaited.
The second issue involves the shipment from Rosslare of sheep destined for Belgium. The necessary pre-export welfare inspection checking and certification of sheep for export is carried out by the veterinary staff of the Department of Agriculture and Food. Owing to demands on staff at present it is not possible to provide such a service on Sundays without serious disruption of the other necessary functions exercised by the veterinary staff in district veterinary offices. I am satisfied that adequate alternative shipping arrangements are available to exporters of live animals without having to resort to Sunday sailings.
Not in those circumstances.
The present position is that there are sailings on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In special circumstances staff would, as an exceptional measure, be made available but in the particular case referred to by the Deputy departmental staff went to considerable trouble to meet the specific veterinary certification required by the Belgian authorities. When this matter had been resolved the exporter was contacted straightaway by the veterinary staff and informed that arrangements for shipping could be made but due to circumstances outside of everybody's control the company refused to sail because of adverse weather conditions. As the Sunday sailing was not serviced by my Department the sheep could not be transported. The company cancelled the Wednesday sailing and placed the boat in dry dock. I understand that an alternative boat is being secured for Friday sailings and that this boat will be inspected tonight by my Department for fitness to carry livestock.
I can give a categorical assurance that there is no bias and regret that so much inconvenience was caused. I am also sure that there was loss of income for the exporter concerned.
A big loss.
I can assure the House that the veterinary staff will make every effort to facilitate the exporter in any future arrangements he may have to make.