Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While the Department has policy responsibility for Bord Bia, questions on operational issues, such as the matter referenced, should be directed to Bord Bia for response.

My Department does not categorise cattle slaughtering by quality assured or non-quality assured, or track whether a bonus is paid. This is a commercial transaction between the farmer and the meat processor. However, Bord Bia has confirmed that the vast majority of all beef processed in Ireland comes from quality-assured farms.

Overall, there is great value in the quality assurance structure, which enables us to market our beef abroad. It gives assurance to customers as to provenance and how the product is produced. That will become increasingly important in the coming years to maintain the markets we have and develop new ones. Bord Bia will be engaging with processors and farmers on that. The more ways we can show a monetary return to farmers at all levels whether they are selling sucklers or finished cattle to the factory and the more ways it can be directly translated into the price that farmers are getting, the better. We need continuing engagement on and assessment of that.

It helps in selling our product internationally to give assurance to customers about exactly how it was produced and the steps taken at farm level. Having a verification audit of quality assurance strengthens our overall product. It has been an important plank on which we have developed our beef sector over recent years.

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