Despite the successes of Irish food and drink exports, one area of export business that has diminished over recent years is the export of live cattle from the west of Ireland to Northern Ireland.

This was a trade that went back to at least the nineteenth century, when cattle from the west made their way east and north after weaning for finishing and historically for onward shipping to Britain for slaughter.

From the second half of the last century, this was increasingly carried out in Irish meat-processing factories, though shipping of cattle to Britain continued in lower volumes.

The arrival of EU beef-labelling legislation in 2002, however, was to be the beginning of the end of large-volume cattle sales to the north.

There was always some volatility in this business since the Irish pound and later the euro diverged from sterling in 1979 but nothing compared with the impact of compulsory beef labelling.

Beef labelling

Beef labelling was introduced by the EU as a confidence-building measure in beef for consumers in the aftermath of the BSE crisis in Europe during the 1990s.

It was identified that beef consumers had confidence in their own national production though in time in much of continental Europe, the origin of cattle was of little significance given how much movement took place between countries that shared a land border in mainland Europe.

In Ireland and the UK, it has been different, particularly in the last decade.

As the major supermarkets and burger chains streamlined their purchasing policy to a few large suppliers, they also streamlined the selection of beef they would accept.

In practice, that meant that while many were happy to accept beef from cattle that had Irish origin as well as UK origin, they were unwilling to carry a third range that was neither exclusively British nor Irish but partially both.

There was an attempt a few years ago to use the voluntary labelling system then in place to get around the problem but ultimately it failed because it retained a third category for cattle that spent time in two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland.

Beef labelling explained

Beef labelling legislation dictates that all beef offered for sale must be labelled so consumers can see where it was born, reared and slaughtered.

When each of these three stages all occurred in the same country, the beef could be correctly described as belonging to that country.

Therefore if an animal was born, reared and slaughtered in the Republic of Ireland, it could be described as Irish. If it was born, reared and slaughtered in Northern Ireland or Britain it could be described as British or UK origin.

If, however, it was born and raised in Co Donegal but sold as a weanling to a farmer in Co Tyrone, it doesn’t qualify as British or Irish and therefore is isolated in the marketplace as supermarkets or burger chains will not accept this mixed-origin or “nomad” beef.

This has meant that there is no point in farmers or factories from the North sourcing store or finished cattle from marts in the west of Ireland and hoping to use them in the supermarket or burger chain business.

There remains limited opportunity in the home market in Northern Ireland and this is business that is ongoing for some of the smaller processors there. Issues around labelling in the food service sector last year as well as the horsemeat issue in 2013 has meant that there is no longer a “grey market” for mixed-origin beef and any cattle that are of mixed origin are therefore considerably devalued in the marketplace, in fact to such an extent that exports to the north in 2018 are 72,657 head less than in 2010.

It is ironic that EU beef labelling legislation should inadvertently penalise Irish farmers by effectively denying them access to a market for live exports worth thousands if not tens of thousands of cattle annually.

What is required is an amendment to legislation that allows an animal carry the national identity of the country it was born in for its life, just as people can.

By retaining details of rearing and slaughtering location on the label, the integrity of the Irish brand would be protected in the event anything happened outside the jurisdiction.

Therefore an animal born in the Republic of Ireland should be able to have its origin declared as Irish even if it is exported as a calf. It would require a relatively minor amendment of the EU legislation and best of all it would cost nothing to deliver.