Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When the beef task force was introduced, I predicted it would be a talking shop. I accept I was wrong and it was not even a talking shop. How it could not meet during the Covid-19 pandemic using Skype, Zoom or Microsoft Teams like the rest of us is beyond me.

I completely agree with Deputy Conway-Walsh about feedlots. This growth of cattle coming out of feedlots is very much at odds with the image of Irish beef that the Minister is rightly seeking to portray abroad. It is an idea of cattle happily roaming the pastures green when in fact they may be in feedlots being fed with concentrates.

The 30-month rule was a main item of contention and must be reviewed. It was initially introduced as a measure against bovine spongiform encephalopathy but now we are told it is now an environmental measure. To finish cattle and particularly continental breeds at 30 months, there is a requirement to be fed with concentrates, possibly in a feedlot. Either way those concentrates have a carbon footprint that must be considered. People are seeking to portray the 30-month rule as an environmental measure but it could have the opposite effect.

See this speech in context