Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome and acknowledge the representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The live export trade is a very important leg of our beef industry. In my part of the world the black and white calf is the big name of the game. Bandon Mart, which is only a few miles away from me, is now proposing to have two sale days, which has never been heard of. They are talking about having two sales a week, one on Monday and one on Thursday. This shows the demand and output that mart is predicting in the next few weeks. Such large numbers of black and white calves need to be exported off this island. Trying to get routes for this export is the biggest issue.

It must be acknowledged that 250,000 animals were moved last year, which is a very significant figure and up 31%. A lot of them would have been black and white calves. There is, and was, talk around Irish Ferries, especially in Rosslare, and a route being changed before Christmas. What analysis has the Department done on that route change? In the presentation the Department has said it is waiting for a new ferry to be looked at. Will the witnesses elaborate on where we are with regard to ferry services? I might be wrong but I do not believe that any of the live calves go through Cork Port. I do not believe that Brittany Ferries currently take them and they mainly head to other ports. Is there a possibility that calves from the Munster region would have to go to Dublin Port to be exported? Would that create a significant barrier in getting calves to the market? What is the market line that is planned out for the animals?

In the next six weeks, between 2,500 and 3,000 black and white calves will go into Bandon mart and other marts in my district. We need to ensure we get those animals moved off.

Deputy Cahill mentioned weather conditions having an impact on getting calves off the island. We saw the impact of bad snowfalls in southern counties last March. These caused major disruption to the livestock trade for two or three weeks, with a major backlog affecting the price and age of calves. How can we work within the time constraints of calve movements? Will leniency be shown should we experience bad weather? How can we ensure calves are moved off the island if there is an issue of time? Is there a way around the issue and has the Department thought it through? We may have another period of bad weather. It happened at a terrible time for farmers last year, around 8 March to 10 March, and caused major disruption for three weeks. People trying to get animals off the island found that ferries were cancelled and road conditions were bad.

Where do the officials see growth in the market? There was significant growth last year. Will there be further growth and greater access to markets this year? What are the Department's target markets? Where will pitfalls arise for those trying to get calves off the island? The two main issues are transportation, both roads and ferries, and lairages on the Continent. Is there capacity in lairages and do the ferry companies have the capacity to ensure we can get access to markets abroad? Without such access, I would be fearful. Last year was an exceptional year and we need to maintain or improve on last year's figures. While we are probably a week behind in calving as a result of the way the weather broke and other factors, I think we will have exceptionally high numbers of black and white calve movements in the next four to five weeks.