Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It was suggested that exporters come together into a single representative organisation. How many exporters are there? Are there huge numbers or relatively few? I imagine there are relatively few and that we would easily get them all into this room. We have a small number of factories processing meat and they have a representative organisation. It may benefit the overall industry, but I wonder how much benefit it is to the primary producers. When they get together, do they work for their own interests or those of the primary producer? I would ask the same question of any organisation set up to represent exporters.

The other question is where we are going to go. Egypt, Nigeria, Turkey and such places involve long journeys and it is clear that the people who buy the product want to buy a healthy animal, so we have to make sure that a healthy animal arrives at those destinations. Ireland has a very good reputation in this area because the calves and other animals produced here are produced to the highest standards. They are healthy while they are here and healthy when they leave, and we need to maintain that.

In regard to much of the criticism of the live export trade, will the Department's representatives provide some truth about the reality of animals' journeys and about their health when they arrive at their final destinations?