60.
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many store cattle have been imported from Eire to Scotland in each month of this year; and what is his estimate of the number to be imported each month during the rest of this year.
As the Answer contains a number of figures about shipments of store cattle in the first four months of this year, I shall, with permission, circulate that part of my reply in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
It is not possible to make a worthwhile forecast of numbers of store cattle likely to be imported in the remaining months of this year.Is it not a fact that under the recent agreement with Ireland a requisite number of store cattle are to be imported into this country? If we do not know what progress we are making, how shall we implement the agreement?
We have to wait to see how the agreement is operating before we start to form conclusions from it.
Following is the information:
The numbers of store cattle imported from the Republic of Ireland in the first four months of this year were:—
| Direct from Republic of Ireland Ports | Through Northern Ireland Ports | ||
| January | … | 7,656 | 2,435 |
| February | … | 6,842 | 1,632 |
| March | … | 7,791 | 1,324 |
| April | … | 2,695 | 1,260 |
The numbers of cattle shown as coming via Northern Ireland refer to consignments of cattle in transit through Northern Ireland on their way to Scottish ports.