Last year was an excellent year for live exports. This year looks set to be even better. In the period from 1 January to 31 May 1999, more than 160,000 cattle were exported, compared with just over 53,000 in the same period in 1998 and 19,000 in the same period in 1997. I am pleased to be able to say that the figures this year look set to surpass even those for 1999. From 1 January 2000 to 31 May 2000, almost 218,000 live cattle have been exported. More than 180,000 of these were exported to high value EU markets and the remainder to the Lebanon.
There has been another positive development in recent weeks, with the culmination of lengthy, and sometimes difficult negotiations in relation to the re-opening of the Libyan market. In this regard, I spent a week in Tripoli last August, meeting the Libyan authorities on the specifics of a resumption in trade.
The Taoiseach also raised the matter with Colonel Gadaffi in Cairo in April, and my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, accompanied by a number of senior officials from my Department, reached a final agreement with the Libyan authorities on Friday, 9 June. Once the Libyan authorities open tenders and include Ireland as a potential supplier, it will be open to Irish exporters to bid for contracts under this process.