With regard to the transport of cattle within the European Union, there is growing insistence in the Council of Ministers on completely blocking the long journey transportation of animals, on animal welfare grounds. At each of the recent Council of Ministers meetings proposals were made and supported particularly by the German, Italian, Danish, Netherlands and Swedish delegations. Such a move would affect Ireland more than any other member state. Following the Italian elections, I suspect not as much pressure will be applied on that grounds by the new Minister for Agriculture.
With regard to the attitude of the French authorities to lairage, there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease at a lairage near Paris. That lairage was used by Irish and British exporters. We are in contact with the French authorities. We have had some clarifications from them but still have not got clearance from them for the use of lairage facilities. We are working on that and hope to be able to get that clearance. In the meantime Spain is the first most likely country to open up. We are in consultation with exporters to have direct shipping to Spain and thereby obviate the need to go through France.
We have been in ongoing contact with Lebanon for several weeks. It has sought particular certification of which we have sent it a draft. It is up to the importing country to be satisfied that any country which has had an outbreak of foot and mouth disease has got a clean bill of health. We hope to be in a position to open up that market soon. I am not aware of any other country, European or otherwise, that has opened up its trade with Lebanon to date.
