Mr. Ray Doyle:

I would be the first to say that Bord Bia is doing a great service to the country on a national level, but with regard to live exports and live trade, it is supposed to represent us and look for new markets, and to be fair, it does. It is very visible in the veal units in Holland in its promotion of Irish livestock, but it needs to do more. It is a bit of a difficulty for Origin Green to square with the promotion of live exports because we have so many enemies to live exports. The NGOs and some consumers of Irish products are quite happy to consume Irish beef but they are not that happy to promote and endorse live exports. It is therefore a difficult line that Bord Bia is walking, but it needs to put more resources towards this and in some way promote live exports across the world. Across the world really means north Africa, some Balkan states, Turkey and beyond. It needs to put a bigger effort into that because of what is happening with Brexit. It is supposed to represent all beef and sheep, whether dead or alive, and perhaps it needs to be better resourced.

I do not have a figure off the top of my ceann for the maximum number of calves exported in any particular week. I have a figure in my mind but it might be incorrect. It is approximately 13,000 but that is maybe only a guess on my behalf and Mr. Scallan may have a better answer.

Deputy Martin Kenny asked about the additional time for rest lairage and the penalty. Perhaps Mr. Scallan can answer this better but fixed penalties are issued to hauliers that breach the EU time regulations. From memory, it is approximately €500 per breach but that accumulates if they are caught repeatedly. That was the issue that has maybe led to us discussing it here. There was a change a year and a half to two years ago. It was not a problem for the hauliers to make it to the next lairage point but the change in legislation completely undermined that and has led to this issue occurring now. It did not happen in the past.