asked the Minister for Agriculture if, in view of the serious loss of potential jobs for Irish workers through the export of cattle on the hoof, he has any plans to limit or control the export of live cattle from this country.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Live Cattle Exports.
10.
Under EEC rules it is not possible to impose quantitative restrictions on exports of live cattle. The bulk of our exports of live cattle are to third countries. EEC refunds on exports to our main third country markets are more favourable in respect of beef than in respect of live cattle.
The Minister is blaming the EEC——
I am not blaming anybody.
If the Minister is saying that we cannot prevent the export of live cattle to North Africa because of the EEC, how is it that France, which is not a great distance away, exports a minimum amount of live cattle? How are they able to stop the export of live cattle? Are there other methods within or outside EEC rules by which such exports can be prevented?
I am not so aware but I doubt if such rules exist. I imagine that the same rules apply to all countries in the EEC. Traditionally we have had a live export trade and we continue to have it. Of course it would be preferable if all our cattle were slaughtered here but the trade does not necessarily meet those requirements. I should like to point out that the trend of beef or cattle exports from here has changed dramatically in the last 12 or 13 years. In the early seventies about two-thirds of our beef was exported live and about one-third processed here before export. Now the ratio is the reverse, more that two-thirds is exported in slaughtered form and one-third live. In 1983 413,000 cattle were exported live. That was not to third countries only but to Northern Ireland and Britain. In that year also 981,000 cattle were slaughtered for export.
Will the Minister agree that because of the variable premium a big number of those cattle went into Northern Ireland?
Of course.
I should like to ask the Minister if the statistics he has given are out of date? Was he talking about 20 years ago?
No.
If the Minister gave statistics for the last five years would they not be a better indication of the increase of live exports? That has happened while meat factories here are closing down. The Minister gave statistics for a period when we did not have the meat factory capacity for live cattle.
The Deputy has misunderstood me. The statistics I gave refer to 1983.
The Minister told the House that 13 years ago or 23 years ago we exported two-thirds of our cattle live and that we now only export one-third. I should like to know if the Minister is being devious about this because he should have given the statistics for a period when we had the capacity to use our live cattle and that was only in recent years, in the last decade or so.
The statistics I gave in regard to the numbers of cattle referred to 1983. I made a general distinction between the level of exports last year and the level of exports in the early seventies.
We have a capacity to kill two million and we only have 900,000.
Is the Minister in a position to tell the House the average price per cwt. or per kilo for cattle here compared to the average price in the EEC?
I do not have that information.
Will the Minister agree that we have the cheapest price for cattle and that that is one of the reasons why we export so many? Will the Minister agree that France is deficient in cattle supply?
That is a correct assumption.
(Limerick West): Is the Minister satisfied with the present ratio of live cattle exports? If he is not, what plans does he have to alter that ratio?
The market place dictates the trade and that is the long and the short of it. I would be only too delighted if all animals were slaughtered before export but that is not the trend. I do not think the farming community would like to see the present trend changed unless there was a demand for it in the market place.
What is the Minister doing about this?
Will the Minister agree that if our live export trade was terminated it would have a detrimental effect on our livestock trade and a disastrous effect on our economy? Will the Minister agree that the fact that we did not avail last year of the offer from the beef management committee in Brussels to put extra beef into intervention created the position that meat factories were not able to avail of the maximum potential for slaughtering of beef cattle that would have been available had he accepted the Brussels offer?
I agree that we should use both methods, exporting live and slaughtering here, in conjunction with each other. Intervention is not the answer to our problems. Sales of cattle directly to other countries within the EEC and third countries is the answer. I am glad to say that we are having a great degree of success in that regard.
What would be the long-term answer?