Vol. 413 No. 2
84 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason for the virtual disappearance of the export of small live calves to Italy and Spain; and if, in view of the importance of this trade in supporting prices particularly in the west of Ireland, he will outline the steps being taken to revive the trade.
Irish live calf exports have increased significantly this year. During the first ten months to end October 1991 more than 22,000 calves were exported compared to only 5,000 head for the whole of 1990. The reason for this turn around is largely due to the imposition by the EC earlier this year of a ceiling on live imports from third countries. This ceiling of 425,000 head on animals under 300kgs. was reached last May and since then EC importers have had to source their calf supplies inside the Community. As a consequence there has been an increased demand for supplies of Irish calves, mainly from Italy and France, which are the largest EC veal producers, with Spain accounting for a small amount of the trade.
