Farmers welcome EU agreement on live animal transportation

The Irish Farmers Association has welcomed a new EU agreement on the transportation of live animals.

The regulations were agreed at today's EU Farm Council meeting.

They include closer checks on transport arrangements, stricter rules on journey times of more than eight hours and upgrading of vehicle standards.

Farmers have said the main issue for them is now the problem of ferry access for the live export trade when P&O pulls out of the Rosslare-Cherbourg route next month.

IFA representatives and government officials are shortly set to meet a prominent French ferry company in Marseilles. The company has expressed an interest in providing a new service on the route.