Dan Neville
Question:142 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will introduce a major initiative to re-open lost markets, expand the live export trade and improve export refunds and supports at EU level. [18803/02]
Written Answers. - Live Export Trade.
It is my policy and that of the Government to ensure that Irish livestock or beef exporters have unrestricted access to world markets. Intensive efforts are being made by me and my Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Bord Bia to achieve this objective. It has been my experience that where restrictions on Irish exports of cattle or beef exist because of concerns about BSE, the most effective way of addressing this has been to underpin political and diplomatic contacts by demonstrating in practice to the relevant experts from those countries the controls throughout the sector. This approach was adopted successfully in relation to Russia and Egypt and is being continued with regard to a number of other potentially significant markets. As an example, my Department with the assistance of Bord Bia last week hosted a conference in Dublin on food safety and consumer protection in the beef sector aimed specifically at important markets in the Gulf region and I am pleased the conference was attended by veterinary and food safety experts from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Indications are that the conference was very successful and that delegations were very impressed with the information and demonstrations they received regarding the safety of Irish beef. I hope this will ultimately lead to the re-opening of these markets. We are also in contact with the authorities in South Africa, the Philippines and Indonesia with a view to having those markets re-opened to Irish beef.
The EU Commission also increased export refunds on 27 September last by up to 30% for Egypt following my strong representations to Commissioner Fischler. In addition, the Commission has decided, following my representations, to increase the rate of advance payments of the beef premiums for 60% to 80% in order to improve the cash flow of beef farmers generally and, in particular, of those affected by the poor weather earlier this summer. This will improve the cash flow of Irish farmers by €80 million this year.
In regard to the live trade, there has been a resumption in trade in younger animals to markets in the EU such as Spain and Italy. The trade in finished animals to Lebanon is also continuing since that market reopened to us following the lifting of FMD restrictions.