Vol. 521 No. 6
57 Mr. J. Brady asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when the joint study, between his Department and its counterpart in Northern Ireland, to assess the processing capacity for pigmeat will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17667/00]
I initiated a consultancy study of the Irish pigmeat sector late last year. Arising out of discussions which I had with the Minister of Agriculture in Northern Ireland, it was agreed that this study should be extended to cover the island as a whole. The study is being co-ordinated by Enterprise Ireland along with its Northern Ireland counterpart with involvement from my own Department and the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture.
Apart from the capacity issue the scope of the study was extended to include an evaluation of the pig production outlook for Ireland in the context of developments at EU level, the market potential for the sector, the question of import substitution, and the investment needs of the sector.
Consultants, selected to carry out the study, are well advanced with their work and it is expected that they will submit a report by the end of July 2000.
