Vol. 514 No. 6
61 Ms Coughlan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the progress, if any, achieved over the past two years in recovering export markets for cattle and beef; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4688/00]
In the aftermath of the BSE crisis in 1996, many markets outside of the EU restricted or banned imports of beef from Ireland. Following, in some cases, prolonged negotiations, all the traditionally important markets for Irish beef are now open.
Although there was no ban placed on Irish beef by any EU member state, there was a loss of market share due to an increased consumer preference on some of those markets for their own, domestically produced, beef. The move towards renationalisation within EU markets was one of the issues addressed by the beef task force. Considerable progress has been made in regaining these markets but it remains one of the major priorities for the Irish beef industry to recover and consolidate its presence on EU markets. I have recently visited Italy, France and the Netherlands specifically to promote the consumption of Irish beef in those markets.
The total volume of Irish beef exports increased to an estimated 545,000 tonnes during 1999 which included a growth of 15% to EU markets. The number of live cattle exported increased to 416,000 head, more than double the volume in 1998 and over seven times higher than in 1997.
