§ Mr. Peter Millsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the Anglo-Irish trade agreement as far as it concerns the export of beef and other meat to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe Anglo-Irish free trade area agreement included a specific agreement on store animals and carcase meat which came into force on 1 July 1966. It provided for payments to the Government of the Irish Republic on imports from the Irish Republic of beef, lamb, and mutton equivalent to those made on United Kingdom domestic production under the fatstock guarantee scheme, and for the eligibility of store animals imported from the Irish Republic for FGS payments after a minimum domiciliary period.
Payments under the agreement on cattle and beef lapsed with the ending of the fatstock guarantee scheme for beef in 1973. Broadly similar provisions were, however, negotiated in 1974 when the beef premium scheme was introduced. The United Kingdom suspended the provisions on mutton and lamb in 1978 following an agreement between the Irish Republic and French Government which gave the Republic levy-free access to the French market whilst United Kingdom exports remained subject to existing restrictions.