Vol. 503 No. 7
30 Ms Coughlan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the specific actions, if any, he is taking to assist the market recovery for Irish beef and live cattle in EU and third country markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10986/99]
Following the decision of Iran to reopen its market to imports of beef from Ireland all of the traditionally important markets for Irish beef are now open. As regards live cattle, despite the fact that to date Libya has not yet honoured the agreement to resume imports from Ireland, exports have recorded a major increase in the first three months of this year substantially exceeding the same period last year.
My priorities are to continue to seek to have the agreement reached with Libya honoured and to focus on some of the secondary markets where market access problems persist. These markets include Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia and Syria. One of the major marketing priorities for the Irish beef industry is to increase the level of beef exports to the high value EU markets and thereby assist in reducing the gap between Irish and EU cattle prices.
Since the BSE crisis the volume of Irish exports to EU markets has declined due to a fall in consumption but also due to a preference on some of those markets for their own, domestically produced, beef. This market renationalisation has been further reinforced by the beef labelling regulations adopted in 1997. The beef task force, which I have established, is examining this matter in the context of an action plan for the whole industry, right through from primary production through to processing and marketing. I am expecting the task force to complete its report very shortly.
