Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a serious issue because significant numbers of calves are exported at this time of year. While the lairage facilities currently in place will manage for ten months of the year, we need additional capacity for these two months. There are serious problems because the regulations relating to the timing for when the animals can be on trucks are rigorously applied and they cannot go to alternative lairage which is a short distance away from there. This was raised at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine too. The answer is for an element of the Government to step in and to ensure that we can put additional lairage in place and rent additional facilities in Cherbourg.

See this speech in context