Mr. Tom?s Bourke:

To be clear, the requirement under EU animal law applies to every animal over six weeks of age. However, through extensive discussions, a reasonable compromise has been reached. To put this in context, we trade approximately 2.6 million animals over six weeks of age every year whether from farm to farm or through the marts. Based on the Department's latest analysis, this is now focusing solely on all cows and males over 36 months. The purpose of that reference to males over 36 months is that it is effectively focusing on breeding animals. This brings the potential exposure down to only 170,000 animals or so. This will significantly reduce the impact on trade. Critically, on the Department's proposal as to how to implement this, the concept is that all of the cull cows the Deputy referred to will effectively be ruled out. In the case of any cull cow that myself, the Deputy or a dairy or suckler farm is selling on to a controlled finishing unit, nothing changes. The majority of those are purchased by-----