Mr. Martin Blake:

Deputy Martin Kenny, among other members, raised the issues of costs and stakeholder engagement. I shall deal with these two matters first.

Nobody disputes that there is a cost involved. It is not the Department's intention to just add costs to the meat industry; we are actually looking to support it and make it more efficient. We are looking to modify the current system because it does not work. We are trying to underpin it in dealing with food safety and animal health issues. This not for the good of the Department; the expectation is that if we have a new tool to support the industry, it is good to be able to support it and the food chain with food assurances.

We have made some calculations of the cost per farm. Based on the current pricing system, a 100 ewe lowland flock, for example, will incur an additional cost in the region of €75 to €78. In recognition of this, the Minister has announced the provision of support for farms of €50 during a transition period. There is no doubt that there is an additional cost and this is a policy decision on the part of the Minister to provide support during the transition.

The process of engagement started at the end of 2015 and into 2016. During that period there were ongoing intensive meetings, with a number of additional meetings during 2016 and 2017. Once the announcement was made, it raised practical issues which needed to be worked out with the industry. People were invited to bring forward issues of particular concern to them to see how we could overcome practical issues such as the supply of tags; transitioning from the old to the new tags; and how to have a central point for recording at marts and slaughter plants. People made representations in the context of costs and a number of issues were raised. It is not the case that there was no consultation prior to the announcement.

On market access, I shall hand over to my colleague Ms Paula Barry Walsh who has had engagement with some of the countries involved.