Mr. Seamus Scallan:

The question was asked whether there are other export markets we can find for the livestock. The answer to that is "Yes" and we can also find them in Europe, where there are good markets. The problem at present is that while the markets are there, the people involved in the exporting are not gelling correctly to follow up these markets. There are very good markets in Poland, which is in the EU, but we are not using Poland to get in and sell our cattle. Then we can go to the Balkans, which import many calves from different countries, including Russia. My son and I went to Bosnia 18 months ago to have a look. I was amazed by the way they fed the cattle and the big feedlots used out there, although I do not mean big feedlots with 400 or 500 cattle. They were very interested in coming and there was no problem. I went to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which went out of its way to get the licences approved and looked at all the things that had to be done. We had meetings with officials and they could not have been more helpful. The problem with many of these countries, however, is the ships. The problem we must investigate is whether we can get the ships. We need Bord Bia and others to come together and to sit down with ICOS and everyone else to find out what we can do to explore these markets, which are available for our cattle. If a ship that can carry 4,000 cattle comes here, we need to have it chartered by perhaps ten people instead of one person. This would create considerable activity in the market and increase the price of the cattle. An awful lot of things can be done if we make a start. After this week we will form a committee to explore where we can go with the cattle.