Vol. 542 No. 5
121 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the veterinary inspection and certification arrangements which apply to the export of live cattle and beef to Egypt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25088/01]
In general terms, the Egyptian authorities have indicated that they will permit beef imports on condition that the beef is derived from cattle aged 24 months or less and from which the specified risk material has been removed. Furthermore, those cattle must be fully traceable, must test negatively for BSE, must never have been fed ruminant MBM and must only come from farms in which no case of BSE has occurred in the past three years. Deputies will be aware that BSE controls in place in Ireland over the past number of years mean that the Egyptian requirements relating to traceability, BSE testing, MBM and so on, are fully met by our existing controls. As regards age, the fact is that a similar condition is not new within the Egyptian requirements and, as with all such conditions, much will depend on how it is applied in practice.
Contacts are taking place in Cairo between importers and the Egyptian authorities about detailed arrangements for the import of beef from Ireland. I understand a number of applications for import licences have been submitted to the Egyptian authorities. I am hopeful that they will very soon throw light on how the Egyptians will apply these conditions in practice so that exporters can move on to the next phase of concluding contracts for sales of Irish beef.
