Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his estimate of the number of bacon pigs which have been smuggled from Northern Ireland into Eire in each of the last 12 months.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:It is not possible to give a precise figure for the number of pigs moved illegally. An indication can, however, be derived by comparing the 100W actual number of pigs marketed in Northern Ireland with the potential production calculated from the breeding herd figures recorded in the census. On this basis, the estimated shortfall for each of the last 12 months was:
1974 March … nil April (5 weeks) … nil May … nil June … nil July (5 weeks) … nil August … 19,500 September … 30,000 October (5 weeks) … 32,000 November … 32,500 December … 19,000 1975 January … 23,000 February … 18,000