Mr. Padraig Brennan:

That levy income equated to approximately €500,000 last year. We do a number of things with that funding. There was mention of trade missions for livestock exporters and there have been four of those trade missions in the past three years to international markets. It is a big focus of growth. There is also the question of inward buyer visits in the livestock trade. Buyers want to see animals and how they are produced on a farm so over the past number of years, we have had a series of inward buyer visits from six international markets, as well as all our major European markets, including Spain, Italy, the Netherlands etc.

Another area in which we have put more investment is Africa and the committee is aware that Algeria has come aboard as a new market for Irish livestock. We have a dedicated market expert on the ground working for us in that region and that is important as we try to grow our trade to the region over the years to come.

There is also the area of trade shows, particularly in our main European markets. These are the livestock shows that are really important for exporters and ourselves to engage with buyers or people who have bought from us in the past. There is also the area of advertising and promotion. From a welfare and transport perspective, it is important we are able to demonstrate the quality and integrity of the systems in Ireland for livestock. These are a number of key areas on which we focus.

The trends in live exports vary annually but this year we are on track to export approximately 260,000 animals. Our calf exports have been very negatively affected by the fall away in the veal sector in the Netherlands as a consequence of Covid-19 and a massive drop in the food service sector. The majority of veal is sold through that food service sector. Even allowing for that, there were 260,000 animals exported this year, we can compare this with approximately 150,000 animals per year in 2015 or 2016. There has been progress made over the past five years in the numbers of animals exported and I hope we can make further progress.

There is no doubt but there are challenges coming down the track for 2021 as the veal sector is in a very difficult position. It will have an impact on Irish calves in spring 2021.