asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in view of the fact that Dutch cattle exporters are receiving substantial Government subsidies on cattle exported, if he will raise in the Council of Ministers the applicability of EEC competition regulations to this matter.

To the best of my information no national subsidy is now paid to assist exports of pedigree cattle from the Netherlands. Under the EEC beef régime Dutch cattle classified as non-pedigree will, like similar United Kingdom cattle, be eligible for refunds when exported to third countries and be subject to monetary compensatory amounts on both intra-Community and third country trade. Cattle classified as pedigree do not at the present time qualify for export refunds or monetary compensatory amounts.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total import to date in the current year into the United Kingdom of live cattle from the Republic of Ireland and the comparative figure for the same period in 1976.

Between January and October this year 245,598 live cattle were imported into the United Kingdom from the Irish Republic. The comparative figure for the corresponding period in 1976 was 182,964.