Mr. Henry Burns:

Regarding the point made about data protection, that is fully under the control of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The Department has full control over the way that is regulated. My understanding is that it is managed differently in the marts to the way it is managed in the factories. In fairness, we do not need a big report into this or anything like that. The Department and the Minister administer this. In general terms, it seems to be the case that everyone knows everyone else's business and that needs to be examined by the Department.

On the 16-month condition, that seems to have come from the UK. It is a standard in the UK for British beef but we export a lot of bull beef to Italy, Spain and other countries in Europe.