Vol. 527 No. 3
174 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if, in view of the BSE crisis, the closure of the Egyptian market and the financial problems facing beef producers as a result, he will travel immediately to the Middle East to negotiate the reopening of these markets; and the strategy he will adopt at EU level regarding compensation for farmers if this situation continues for much longer. [28606/00]
The recent decision by the Egyptian authorities to suspend the issue of import licences to western European countries, including Ireland, was taken to allow them take account of the BSE developments within the EU and to assess the measures and decisions being taken to deal with the situation. The developments to which I refer relate to the situation in certain other member states and not to Ireland's situation.
Given that Egypt is our largest market world-wide for Irish beef, the Government takes very seriously any situation which would jeopardise that market and has taken immediate action to deal with the difficulty that has arisen. To begin with, our ambassador in Cairo has been in contact with the Egyptian authorities and has outlined the facts of our situation in relation to BSE in Ireland.
I spoke with the Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Wali, last week and impressed upon him the importance of the market to Ireland, the quality and safety controls in place in Ireland and the guarantees which can be given to consumers of Irish beef.
The Taoiseach raised this issue by telephone with President Mubarak on Friday last and briefed him on the full facts about Irish beef exports and requested him to avoid taking definitive action which may damage this trade.
Senior officials of the Department are currently in Egypt for meetings with high ranking Egyptian officials, and they have outlined in detail the level of BSE controls in place in Ireland. Their message to the Egyptians is that the controls offer the maximum possible assurances of safety to consumers of Irish beef. I am travelling to Cairo to meet with the Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister to bring him fully up to date on the situation and to further elaborate on Ireland's extensive controls. He will also brief the Egyptian authorities on the latest developments at EU level.
It is the case that recent developments have caused serious problems within the market and these can only be dealt with by emergency measures taken at EU level which were covered in the agreement reached at the Council of Ministers yesterday.
