Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 February 2026
254. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the quantity in kilogrammes and value in euro of sheep meat, chilled or frozen, categorised as of Irish origin exported from the State, by the country that it was exported to over the past ten calendar years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10509/26]
View answer255. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the quantity in kilogrammes and value in euro of sheep meat, either chilled or frozen, by animal category (details supplied) exported from the State, by the country that it was exported over the past ten full calendar years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10510/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 254 and 255 together.
Value and volume datasets on Irish sheepmeat exports compiled by the CSO do not include a breakdown by category of ovine animal or by origin of the animals from which the meat was derived.
While volume data is normally quantified in metric tonnes, it has been converted to kilograms for the purposes of this exercise.
Regarding the reporting period, full year data for 2025 is not yet available from the CSO. Hence, the data provided is for each calendar year from 2015 onwards.
Headline data on sheepmeat exports for the last decade is presented in tabular format hereunder. A second table provides additional detail regarding trends in the main export destinations during the relevant period. More granular detail on export markets is shown in the attached spreadsheet.
Table 1: Value and volume of Irish sheepmeat exports 2015 - 2024.
|
Year |
€000 |
Kgs |
|
2015 |
241,893 |
48,017,463 |
|
2016 |
277,106 |
55,844,804 |
|
2017 |
310,054 |
62,434,029 |
|
2018 |
316,004 |
59,760,750 |
|
2019 |
317,840 |
61,959,516 |
|
2020 |
355,680 |
64,096,493 |
|
2021 |
386,495 |
58,264,311 |
|
2022 |
454,573 |
66,501,839 |
|
2023 |
418,703 |
64,779,573 |
|
2024 |
394,513 |
53,217,246 |
Table 2: Countries accounting for over 90% of Irish sheepmeat exports for the period 2015 - 2024.
|
|
2015 |
|
2016 |
|
2017 |
|
2018 |
|
2019 |
|
2020 |
|
2021 |
|
2022 |
|
2023 |
|
2024 |
|
|
Destination |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
€000 |
Kgs |
|
Grand Total |
241,893 |
48,017,463 |
277,106 |
55,844,804 |
310,054 |
62,434,029 |
316,004 |
59,760,750 |
317,840 |
61,959,516 |
355,680 |
64,096,493 |
386,495 |
58,264,311 |
454,573 |
66,501,839 |
418,703 |
64,779,573 |
394,513 |
53,217,246 |
|
France |
83,132 |
16,431,823 |
100,490 |
19,464,962 |
107,792 |
21,223,355 |
101,948 |
18,817,206 |
99,561 |
18,547,999 |
117,841 |
20,308,563 |
126,315 |
18,079,768 |
146,523 |
20,701,566 |
133,239 |
19,105,968 |
138,113 |
17,490,859 |
|
United Kingdom |
50,000 |
12,688,198 |
52,419 |
13,759,512 |
54,695 |
14,636,721 |
58,289 |
14,385,105 |
62,802 |
14,767,784 |
60,240 |
12,980,942 |
47,721 |
8,636,795 |
57,726 |
10,675,128 |
55,222 |
10,654,389 |
51,064 |
8,798,592 |
|
Germany |
23,451 |
3,818,875 |
29,213 |
4,719,593 |
30,967 |
5,153,706 |
39,661 |
6,344,241 |
36,252 |
6,017,706 |
41,992 |
7,787,883 |
59,259 |
9,103,801 |
77,698 |
11,887,787 |
67,675 |
10,318,720 |
72,715 |
9,651,693 |
|
Sweden |
17,910 |
3,414,800 |
23,048 |
4,510,825 |
25,818 |
5,189,194 |
23,508 |
4,562,417 |
27,993 |
5,566,594 |
36,032 |
6,455,768 |
42,342 |
6,081,260 |
47,643 |
6,591,789 |
36,093 |
5,345,776 |
28,969 |
3,983,474 |
|
Belgium |
24,051 |
3,060,393 |
25,449 |
3,377,437 |
24,619 |
3,433,175 |
27,301 |
3,799,197 |
25,332 |
3,522,425 |
28,743 |
3,680,313 |
32,836 |
3,490,841 |
26,813 |
2,882,453 |
24,376 |
2,768,052 |
25,116 |
2,623,008 |
|
Netherlands |
7,547 |
1,604,815 |
5,827 |
1,557,425 |
6,776 |
1,465,144 |
7,178 |
1,554,966 |
6,915 |
1,625,951 |
7,219 |
1,720,952 |
9,801 |
2,345,972 |
17,471 |
3,611,189 |
20,990 |
3,194,719 |
19,421 |
3,198,246 |
|
China |
4,094 |
1,453,629 |
2,868 |
1,339,177 |
6,735 |
2,518,175 |
3,192 |
1,255,067 |
3,634 |
1,678,895 |
3,319 |
1,396,276 |
2,452 |
910,928 |
248 |
50,678 |
4,378 |
2,520,149 |
211 |
36,496 |
|
Italy |
6,678 |
1,393,814 |
7,498 |
1,537,107 |
11,424 |
2,215,394 |
11,199 |
1,971,088 |
11,820 |
2,233,931 |
10,435 |
2,180,488 |
11,209 |
1,933,052 |
15,140 |
2,131,671 |
15,250 |
2,312,147 |
16,192 |
2,205,152 |
|
Denmark |
7,457 |
888,718 |
9,337 |
1,127,042 |
10,575 |
1,319,507 |
11,164 |
1,482,778 |
11,526 |
1,486,135 |
11,389 |
1,450,664 |
13,865 |
1,369,453 |
12,006 |
1,263,431 |
10,478 |
1,153,061 |
9,176 |
1,029,133 |
|
Switzerland |
10,443 |
790,578 |
12,714 |
872,204 |
19,089 |
1,260,111 |
18,292 |
1,259,370 |
15,276 |
1,280,098 |
23,479 |
2,025,472 |
25,046 |
1,868,819 |
31,628 |
2,135,595 |
29,347 |
2,146,069 |
22,412 |
1,639,316 |
