asked the Minister for Agriculture the estimated number of jobs which would be created in the Irish meat industry if the proposed exports of £80 million worth of cattle to Libya were retained and processed in this country.

Largely because of the seasonality of supply most of our meat export plants operate well below capacity for much of the year and could deal with larger numbers of cattle without any significant increase in employment. Increased processing of the large quantities of beef currently exported in bone-in form or as live animals would, of course, be most desirable. Such an increase, however, is largely dependent on commercial considerations.

Could the Minister indicate what would be the commercial considerations to which he has referred? Is it a simple fact, as seems to be implied in his answer, that the Libyan businessmen involved can pay the Irish producer more than the Irish meat factories are willing to pay?

The answer to the second part of the Deputy's question is that it is a different kind of animal that is being exported to Libya or to North Africa. What was the first part of the Deputy's question, please?

The costs.

The commercial aspect of it depends on the demand for either live or dead meat. This is part of a trade which has been for generations and still exists. There is no way one can contemplate either one side or the other, the live or the dead meat, being a monopoly situation. It is good for the trade that there be a proper balance between the two.

Is the Minister saying that the animals which are exported to North Africa, and Libya in particular, would not be accepted or sought under any circumstances by the Irish factories?

They are animals of lower weight than normally killed for Irish meat factories.

Is it correct, as I have been informed, that the Libyans are prepared to take reactor cattle?

That is correct. I have been asked to consider the question of allowing the movement of reactors from locked up herds, which I have refused.

Finally, may I ask the Minister whether he himself has had any discussions with Libyan political authorities about this matter or whether they have been conducted solely on a commercial basis?

Solely on a commercial basis.