Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I echo a lot of what the other speakers have said. I appreciate that the witnesses from the ICBF passionately believe in what they are setting out and that the ICBF is coming at this from a scientific point of view. However, the reality is that, unfortunately, the farming community at large has not bought into what it is trying to do and the ICBF has gotten it badly wrong. We have had unprecedented representation over the past two weeks on what is happening here. I echo what others are saying and the general thrust of what we are recommending is that the ICBF pause the implementation of this new scheme, pending an independent review and proper consultation with farmer and breeding groups.

There are a few key issues that farmers are contacting us about. I appreciate Mr. Doran said that breeding groups are on the board with three spots, which is 18% of the board. They say they have not been properly consulted and that queries they raised were never adequately answered. They said there was a webinar and they were told they would get a recording of that and that any unanswered queries from the webinar would be followed up afterwards. This did not happen. They sought a list of 100 AI bulls prior to 28 November and this was not provided. The new breed averages were only furnished to them a week prior to the changes. The ICBF has said here on a number of occasions that these were reviewed by its technical group and an industry focus group but it is clear that the farming community at large has no faith in either its industry focus group or its technical group.

I have a few questions for Dr. Crosson and I am conscious of time so I ask him to answer as quickly as possible. One of the biggest bones of contention is the rise of breeds like Dexter. It has risen significantly when compared with Charolais. Dexter has a kill-out average of 200 kg at 24 months versus 350 kg for Charolais. I am not a farmer but if I was breeding cattle, it would make sense for me to breed a Charolais. Why has the Dexter come up? What is the rationale for this?