Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While no estimate is available, I believe the potential gain is quite good. Irish beef is a unique brand. Last week, I, along with representatives of SuperValu and Teagasc, visited the agricultural institute in Grange which is engaged in a great a deal of work in regard to consumer identification of beef. When all of the work in this area has been accumulated we will see how special Irish beef is. When consumers worldwide realise just how special our beef product is, we will see an increase in our exports in this area. We have been already exporting to Germany for a number of years. It is a good market for us. We can market our beef on the European stage. There is great potential in this regard, particularly in terms of the proposals contained in Food Harvest 2020.

The fact that a suckler scheme was put in place under the recent budget will encourage more farmers to get involved in the beef business and produce better quality stock.

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