Vol. 510 No. 3
196 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number of non-EU markets established for beef and other meat products in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22677/99]
198 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number and location of new beef or other meat mar kets which have been opened up to producers in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22679/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 and 198 together.
The development of markets for Irish beef is mainly a matter for the industry itself, working in conjunction with my Department and Bord Bia. Ireland exports beef to more than 60 markets worldwide. Following the BSE crisis, my Department set about giving assurances to our various trade partners about the extremely low incidence of BSE in Ireland and the effectiveness of our controls.
Ireland has succeeded in maintaining trade in beef, or in some cases bringing about a resumption in such trade, to all of our traditionally important international markets. I am particularly pleased that, following a detailed review of the control systems put in place by my Department, Russia has now agreed to lift the export restrictions on five counties. The position regarding the other three counties will be reviewed at a later date. Agreement on the lifting of restrictions in the case of Libya and Iran has also been achieved; however, actual trade has not yet resulted in either case. Most recently, Indonesia has sought to purchase Irish beef and the possibilities of this trade are currently being explored.
Within the EU, Ireland has made significant headway in regaining the position we lost due to renationalisation of domestic markets. Intervention stocks, which had built up since 1996, have now been almost eliminated, leaving the way open for further improvement in the international market. The lifting of restrictions on the supply of the Russian market is a further boost to the Irish cattle and beef sector.
