Ms Lorna Meaney:

The first thing to say is that a lot of this new legislation is based on scientific findings from the EFSA. We all know that moving very young calves is very challenging. Immunologically and physiologically, they are immature animals and they are difficult to move. That makes them very vulnerable, so we have to consider that. The EU Commission is very anxious to address that issue. I suppose the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is also very anxious to address the issue but in a way that will not affect our industry, or will not affect it to the extent that it causes Irish farms to be at a disadvantage.