Sir, - Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is concerned that some people may believe that our campaign to end the live animal export trade may have contributed to the present farming crisis. We would argue that this is not the case, and that live exports are not the solution to the problems we are seeing at present.
Figures show that live cattle exports have actually tripled from last year, and there was no crisis then. We hear continually that fair cattle prices are dependent on shippers providing an element of competition. As the live trade represents only a tiny proportion (less than 9 per cent) of the overall cattle trade, how can it have such a major impact on the price? Why is there no competition without shippers when there are several meat plants to compete against each other? And the biggest question of all, why are the powerful farm lobby groups not addressing this problem when surely they want to ensure that farmers get a fair price for their animals?
Exporting animals alive is not the solution to the fodder crisis, instead it simply replaces one set of welfare problems with another. For example, our organisation recently carried out an undercover investigation in the Lebanon. We found appalling slaughter conditions and brutal handling of cattle arriving from the EU, including Ireland.
An export trade in meat is clearly the humane alternative and has the added advantage of keeping jobs in the meat industry in Ireland. Egypt, for example, no longer accepts live cattle from Ireland in the wake of BSE, but is now the leading international outlet for Irish beef.
CIWF has genuine sympathy for small farmers and their animals in these very difficult times. We fully support the farmers' call for aid to buy animal feed and have already publicly stated this. However, we believe that this aid should be linked to de-stocking to avoid similar problems in the future. We would suggest that EU grants have fuelled overstocking and that this policy should now be reversed, thereby encouraging small-scale farming.
In the longer term, the whole future for Irish farming needs to be discussed by all relevant people, including farmers and animal welfarists, so that a viable road for the future can be found which protects the welfare of farmers, animals and consumers. - Yours, etc., Mary-Anne Bartlett,
Director, Compassion in World Farming, Ireland, Hanover Street, Cork.