Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 February 2019
188. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has discussed with the French authorities the need to increase lairage facilities at Cherbourg; if he has had discussions with a company (details supplied) about scheduling of sailings in view of delays in the export of calves; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10169/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department acknowledge the value and importance of live exports to Ireland’s agribusiness and I am aware of the challenges within the live export trade, particularly that of capacity in lairages in France. Calves being exported must, for welfare reasons, be off-loaded, fed and rested for 12 hours on arrival in France. The current lairages in the Cherbourg region have capacity for some 4,000 calves on any one day.
My Department visited Cherbourg in the Autumn and met with their French counterparts to discuss this matter. More recently, they provided briefing to the IFA before its delegation visited the lairage near the port of Cherbourg recently.
My Department officials are in on-going communication with the Irish exporters with regard to the need for co-operation to ensure that the lairage capacity at Cherbourg is optimised. Industry has been advised to make contact with their business partners in France to explore options around the increase of this capacity.
My Department offers regulatory assistance and approval to commercial providers of transport that is required for accessing important export markets. There is on-going communication with the various operators but the choices of routes and frequency of operation remain within the remit of the commercial providers.
