October 19, 2006

Ireland's cattle exporters incensed by rule enforcement

Irish cattle exporters in the province of Ulster are saying that local procedures, which is in abeyance to EU rules, are acting as obstacles to cattle exports and causing the country's beef export industry to fall behind that of its competitors. 

However, the Department of Agriculture and Regional Development (Dard), which regulates cattle exports, said more controls could be applied to exports by the European Commission if rules are not followed.

Ulster has sent more than 12,000 cattle to the EU states since the lifting of the beef export ban this year.

Ulster Unionist Party agriculture spokesman, Tom Elliott, said Ulster's beef industry is losing out to other producers when it should be trying to regain lost markets.

While Ulster has applied rules religiously, others like the Republic of Ireland is ahead of the region when it comes to the ease at which buyers can purchase and move animals abroad.

The rules are causing Ulster to fall behind some Eastern European nations and nations like Poland, Elliot said.

Elliott attributed the disparity to a different interpretation of rules which left Ulster producers at a serious disadvantage, saying that local authorities are overzealous in enforcement.

A Dard spokeswoman said that adherence to EU rules is critical especially since there would be a Food and Veterinary Office inspection in late November.