Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 July 2018
456. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if meat production will be increased here in view of concerns regarding the conditions of live animal exports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31539/18]
View answerMeat production can be tracked according to the volume of animals slaughtered. Figures on animals slaughtered in Department approved meat plants indicate that production increased in all categories in 2017 compared to 2016.
In 2017, 1,739,601 cattle were slaughtered in Department-approved meat plants, an increase of 7.5% on the previous year. For 2018 year to date, the number of cattle slaughtered is up 2.3% on the same period last year.
The cumulative sheep slaughtering figure for 2017 was 2,948,493 head for the end of 2017 in comparison to a figure of 2,671,405 for 2016 which represents an increase of 10% for the same period. There is only a very slight increase in slaughtering year to date.
Approximately 3.292m pigs were slaughtered in export-approved plants during 2017. This equates to an increase of approximately 1.2% compared to 2016. For 2018 year to date, the number of pigs slaughtered is up 2.3% on the same period last year.
One of my Department’s priorities, in line with market development theme of Foodwise 2025, is to further increase the market opportunity for Irish food and drink internationally, especially for the meat sector. The Market Access unit is continuing to make progress on a wide range of market access issues across the beef and sheepmeat sectors, and also the pigmeat and poultry sectors.
Animal welfare is obviously a key concern for any live export trade, and inspections by my Department ensure that rigorous and robust animal welfare standards are strictly complied with during transport of live animals.
