Mr. Joe Burke:

I will address that question. I visited the lairages in Cherbourg with my colleagues based in our Paris office. We met those operators and we viewed the facilities last spring. There was only a minor increase in the daily capacity; it increased from approximately 4,000 head per day to 4,500 head per day currently. That capacity was utilised throughout the spring, albeit there are only sailings on three shipping days per week in line with the decision of the ferry companies to sail on those particular days, reflecting their other enterprises and their other trade for exports.

We have been in touch all the various operators, the exporters, in Ireland, with whom I am in regular contact.

We had an inward buyer visit last week from a Spanish customer, who visited many of the live exporters. We have moved away from peak exports now, given the time of year, and that capacity is not as much of a bottleneck as it was in the peak export time of March and early April. Similarly, we continue to find opportunities for other categories of stock. Later in the year the focus will move more to weanlings and heavier cattle, and indeed alternative markets.