Primary responsibility for the improvement needed in the grades of Irish beef cattle rests with the industry itself, in particular, through better breeding and husbandry practices and the operation graded pricing. However, in view of the importance which I attach to bringing about an improvement of the grades of Irish beef, I have asked the beef task force monitoring committee to progress the issue of graded pricing, which I believe is a vital prerequisite for the production of better quality cattle. In addition, my Department is strongly supporting moves at EU level to introduce mechanical classification in order to provide a more objective basis for a graded pricing system.
As far as breeding is concerned, the breeding demonstrations undertaken by Teagasc around the country earlier this year, combined with the activities of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, are designed to promote the value of better breeding practices among Irish producers in order to bring about an overall improvement in the quality of Irish cattle and, in that way, ensure that the beef processing sector has an adequate supply of quality beef to meet the requirements of the European market. I am satisfied that all of these initiatives should bring about a significant improvement in the grades of Irish beef.