Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

He is an honourable man, indeed, and a gentleman. On the day I visited, Dan was extremely frustrated because an animal delivered to the mart had two tags leaving the farm and only one on arriving at the sale ring. The animal was forcibly withdrawn from sale and the farmer had to bring it back home. To a large degree, that is the correct approach to ensure the integrity of the meat supply system. We are talking about animals that are being sold for fattening. I, being an urban dweller, am talking about something about which I have limited knowledge, but I could understand where Councillor McCarthy was coming from. His point was that if I arrived at the gate of his farm and wished to buy an animal from him, I could do so, and that if the tag were missing from the animal, I could order a replacement and have it delivered to my farm. His point made perfect sense and I would be interested in hearing the comments of the Minister thereon. The councillor said that when the animal is transferred to the mart, its tags are transferred to the mart's book. The mart sells the animal and the tag is then transferred to the purchaser or recipient of the animal. The councillor was making the point that if I buy the animal directly from the farmer and a tag is missing, I can order a replacement myself and have it delivered to my farm, making everybody happy. If I bring the animal to a mart and the tag is missing, the mart will be told it cannot sell the animal on the day. Councillor McCarthy asked whether it could not be the case that the mart could sell the animal, order a replacement tag on the same day, charge the seller for that replacement tag and have it delivered directly to the purchaser's farm.All we are doing is taking the unnecessary movement of the animal from the mart back to the farm and then back to the mart again. Councillor McCarthy estimated that bringing an animal to the mart costs €75, which is a sizeable chunk out of any profit that is available to the farmer. If it has to be done twice, the cost is €150. He thought this was bringing unnecessary hardship on farmers.

To me, it sounds like a very simple solution to what is a bureaucratic problem. Nowhere along the line is the integrity of the beef being brought into question because only one tag is involved all the time, not two. I spoke to Councillor McCarthy again last night. He extends an invitation to the Minister to visit the Kenmare mart, which I am sure he would love to do, in order to allow the councillor to explain in detail to him how we might overcome this. I am interested to hear the Minister's reply to see if we can find a solution to this problem.