There are 80 million fowl in the State, all part of the poultry industry, reports Seán MacConnell, Agriculture Correspondent.

The Irish poultry industry consists of the rearing of birds for meat, the keeping of table-egg laying flocks, a network of breeding flocks and hatcheries to support these activities, the packing of eggs and the poultry slaughter and processing sector.

The main concentration of production is in Monaghan/Cavan and there is a significant all-island dimension to the industry, with much cross-Border movement of hatching eggs, day-old chicks and meat.

Approximately 850 farms are involved in commercial poultry production. There are 250 producing table-eggs, 430 rearing poultry for meat and 170 breeding. In addition, there are thousands of so-called backyard flocks of poultry kept for home-consumption or for sale at local markets or to small local processors. The flocks were recently registered by the Department of Agriculture in the event of an outbreak of avian flu.

The farmgate value of the poultry sector, at €150 million (approx €120 million meat and €30 million eggs), is 3 per cent of gross agricultural output. Notwithstanding the pressures on the sector, the poultry industry is holding up well.

There are 14 poultry slaughter plants approved to EU standards. Only 25 producers are approved to sell free-range poultry and their combined output would amount to a very minor proportion of the industry.

Overall, Ireland would still average 100 per cent self-sufficiency. The number of people employed in primary production and processing and in linked services would be of the order of 6,000.

In all, there are 80 million fowl in the State with a total of 67 million chickens, 6.6 million hens, 3.9 million turkeys and 2.7 million ducks.

The table-egg sector has performed well in recent years and supplies more than 80 per cent of consumption here. The remainder of demand is supplied by imports, mainly from Northern Ireland, which are directed largely to the catering trade. Small quantities come from other EU countries. But eggs are not generally exported. The Bord Bia quality assurance scheme has been instrumental in maintaining the market share, and good image, of Irish eggs.

There are more free-range egg producers in the State than farms operating cage systems to produce eggs, although 1.3 million hens are kept in cages and 600,000 are free range. There are five operators of barn producing units in the state and they farm 50,000 birds.

Pádraig Brennan of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, said while there had been a drop in recent years in the amount of chicken Irish people consume, a total of 122,000 tonnes of poultrymeat is eaten here annually. At 30.5 kgs per capita annually, poultrymeat has been accounting for 32 per cent of the meat consumed in Ireland annually.

The latest figures for exports of Irish chicken show 80,000 tonnes was exported last year. About half of this went to the UK and the rest to the Continent. Over 55,000 tonnes of poultrymeat was imported here last year, 28,000 of which came from the UK, 10,000 tonnes from the Netherlands, 3,000 tonnes from France and 2,000 tonnes from Italy.

He estimates that under 5,000 tonnes came from non-EU countries and when it was allowed export to the EU, about half of this came from Thailand.

"None of this comes directly into Ireland but is imported by other EU countries and then sold on when it is processed. We still have a deficit of chicken breast and that accounts for some of the imports," he said.