Michael Fitzmaurice: Save the Suckler Herd, Support Live Exports

Did you get to answer the rest of the questions there? Most of them. Right. And in relation to, say, around the country, is there the market, say, if Ireland was synonymous with the Belgian blue thread going to Italy, they said the suckler herd is reduced by 250,000. Is that causing a problem? Is there certain markets that you are basically struggling to fill now, or is others in competition? I know when Bluetongue was in place, the likes of France, parts of it were stagnant, they couldn't move. That's changing. Will that be, will that make a difference? And what can we do as a committee? I noticed that you've talked about the legislation in Europe in relation to transporting of, be it sheep or be it calves or be it bigger or bigger cattle, what can we do in relation to, first of all, have you spoke to the department in relation to trying to get funding or pilot scheme for flying calves out, right? No. No, just one second. That's the first thing. The second thing is, how can there be a better cooperation overall to make sure that we protect the live thread, because it's well known that if you don't have a good live thread, you won't have a good dead thread, like they say going back to years. And what can this committee, what is your ask of this committee when working together here for the future, the way that it will help you better? And the one thing I'd say, and this is probably, I get criticized for saying this, I would like to see more cohesion among all the exporters overall, because you have to ring nearly everyone individually to see what, and that's not going to, if you're fighting a battle, you want your army with you, not everyone doing their own thing. Well I suppose if I could answer the last question first, there is a cohesion amongst the exporters when it comes to dealing with difficulties. That's why they've nominated people to advocate on their behalf. Could there be more cohesion amongst them? Well they absolutely could, you know, and that's an effort that's ongoing, we're trying to build the relationships between them, I think a part of that success would be to, the fact that I'm here shows that there is an element of success, the fact that we are able to export so as well as we do is another example of the success that they do. I suppose it's about let their business at their ring remain at their ring, that's their own private commercial business, which I'm not even involved in, it's got nothing to do with me, you know, but then when there's issues or when there's association meetings to be able to come into that meeting and behave as adults and follow the agenda, discuss the agenda and whatever's not a part of that agenda leave it alone. So they are building on that and they are getting better and there is a stronger cohesion than there would appear, I have to say, there's a lot more goes on than people would perhaps assume that goes on. There are one or two exporters who haven't yet come into the fold, we're hopeful that they will and negotiations are ongoing there. In terms of a push in the department for any sort of help to fly calves, at this stage the answer to that is no because it's still very much in its infancy and at the moment you know the most obvious route for calves is the road, it's working really well. Obviously it's under threat and we will have to look at that and address that and we are doing it but there's much other things to examine first, like where do we get the plane, where do we bring the plane, where do we land the plane, there's lots of things for us to take care of before we go to the department to still discuss the plane and at that juncture there is, it should be noted that there's also the rise of the greener vet and I'm not suggesting that our department have them, our department are very, very good but I'm just saying that those greener vets do exist and that's perhaps a small problem on the main continent as well with new vets with new ideas who are not export friendly or who are not farming friendly, begs the question why they became vets, but there you have it, they're the same people who talk about pet parents and things like this, it's mind boggling. But then in terms of the suckler farmer, the suckler farmer I think needs to be supported by government because without the suckler farmer that's really where the exporters are getting the bulk of their quality produce to sell. The suckler farmer is vital and needs to be supported at all levels and a way to encourage the suckler farmer back into the business I would suggest is some sort of a model, some sort of a scheme where they can be supported so that they can have confidence to come into the market. They're frightened, it's not the same as a bull of very high standards, you know in terms of its vaccination, in terms of its fertility, in terms of its breeding, there's a lot more going into that animal than going into a lesser quality than even an R grade and those people are nervous about stepping forward and investing that sort of money and then finding that when they get to the market or when they get to the factory that they're being treated nearly in the same quality as an R grade after so much investment. So exporters give them a valuable way out. We can still supply those markets, thankfully my colleague here and others like him are delivering quality cattle into those markets, but as the suckler continues to decline, well then obviously those cattle are declining with it, which may be an advantage to some other organisations, but it's certainly not an advantage to live exports or farming. And I think it should be pointed out too, that there was an awful lot of effort going back 60 and 70 years ago to get that sort of genes from the continent to here, to produce those sort of animals. There was great work done by a very small handful of individuals and to allow that genetic to just disappear would be a crime in itself. So suckler farmers need help and they need help from government by any means that they can get it, would be my view on that. I think I covered everything you asked there Deputy. Thank you and thank you deputies and look I want to thank the witnesses for your contribution on it, I think it was a real eye-opener for so many people. Animal welfare is a massive issue for people and as Deputy Ard mentioned about that kitchen with the calf or the lamb, that was our kitchen always as we grew up at home and I know it's the same in households right across the country, our neighbours circumsure on it as well. Animal welfare and farming is so interlocked. Luke, to thank you for your contributions, there's one other item before we wrap up and it's in relation to the earlier meeting, that if members don't have additional contacts today, it's proposed that the Secretariat would contact the Department of Agriculture in Latvia and Lithuania regarding the information on their policies encouraging women in farming, the reasons for the high female participation in farming and any information or contacts, contact details that they would have for the relevant groups in the work in that area.