I want to ask the Taoiseach about live export facilities at the port of Cherbourg in France. As the Taoiseach is aware, there are too many black and white cattle going into beef production at the moment and it is decimating the livelihoods of beef farmers. The programme for Government commits to developing increased live export markets for the beef sector but to facilitate exports, we need extra lairage capacity in Cherbourg. Will the Taoiseach direct the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to bring the key players together to put in place the additional capacity that is now urgently required to avert a catastrophe in the beef sector?

This is a serious issue because significant numbers of calves are exported at this time of year. While the lairage facilities currently in place will manage for ten months of the year, we need additional capacity for these two months. There are serious problems because the regulations relating to the timing for when the animals can be on trucks are rigorously applied and they cannot go to alternative lairage which is a short distance away from there. This was raised at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine too. The answer is for an element of the Government to step in and to ensure that we can put additional lairage in place and rent additional facilities in Cherbourg.

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. It is very relevant, as we head into Brexit, that we do all that we can to assist the beef industry to diversify into other markets, including France and the mainland market in the EU. I am aware of the problems in Cherbourg. I will certainly tell the Minister, Deputy Creed, that it was raised here and I will have the opportunity to meet with the French finance minister this week. The French foreign minister is in town at present so I will make sure that it forms part of any bilateral discussions.