Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Two boats are licensed to transport cattle from Ireland to third countries. One boat is licensed to bring them to France and two are licensed to take them to England. More boats were licensed to carry live exports from this island to many other countries in 1970 than is the case today and there were more live exports than compared with the present. It is good that we are in a position to process more product because it adds value, creates employment and increases the reputation of Irish beef abroad. We can package and market it. It is not good, however, when departmental policy removes part of the market, namely, live exports. The European Court of Justice has ruled that national rules must not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the main purpose of the Council regulation on the protection of animals during transport and that they must not result in additional costs or technical difficulties which disadvantage producers in a member state or prevent attainment of the objective of eliminating technical barriers to trade in live animals. Our rules discriminate between boats that bring cattle to Ireland and boats that take cattle out. The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Tom Hayes, told me this was a matter of animal welfare. That does not stack up because, if animal welfare was the concern of the Department, all boats transporting cattle in our territorial waters would be subject to these regulations.

See this speech in context