Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his very comprehensive reply. However, throughout the long and involved reply, he did not mention any action taken by him. He seems happy to have a laissez-faire attitude towards the market, that everything is okay so let us not interfere in any way.

Is the Minister satisfied there is no difficulty in putting live cattle on boats in Dublin and transporting them by lorry to the United Kingdom? Is he happy that no barriers are being put in the way of that type of free trade? Is he happy this is not an issue in the difficulty Irish farmers find in accessing British factories and getting the higher price? At the end of the day, we were told one of the advantages of the EU was free trade.

What the Minister seems to be saying smacks of something less than free trade. Has the Minister had discussions with his counterparts in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of labelling and how it seems to seriously discriminate against Irish beef?

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