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

I did not suggest that the Minister should not meet the US Secretary of Agriculture. It is typical of what is happening here where everything is twisted. What I did suggest is that we could have had parliamentary questions on another day. As the Minister of State knows, there is an arrangement to do that and we always accommodate the Government in that regard.

I asked about live exports to Great Britain and why it is not possible to get a lorry-load of cattle on a boat in Dublin when it is possible for the same company to get them on a boat in Northern Ireland to take them to Great Britain.

Could the Minister of State outline what real steps have been taken to resolve the issue of the sale of offal to the Russian market? Is he satisfied that the quality assurance scheme, which was designed to get premium prices for farmers, is not having the opposite effect and that the scheme and the forward movement rule are not being used by processors to discount the prices of cattle and to declare that the cattle are out of spec?

Is it intended to introduce a beef industry regulator? Normally when an industry is dominated by a very small number of private sector players, a regulator ensures that there is fair play. Is it intended to have an inquiry either in this country or to seek an EU inquiry into the operation of the entire beef industry, including retailers, processors and the relationship between them and producers?

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