Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If one goes to page six of the other document supplied by the delegation on getting the public-private balance right, it is interesting to see what services were provided in 2000 and that in 2009, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Teagasc provided some of these services.

In respect of innovation, we all know computers and software are evolving, especially with things like smartphones. Skimming through the document, I see here that the companies are developing an app that would be of benefit to agribusiness. If a farmer goes out, takes a cow in heat or a cow is calved, if one is able to register it on a smartphone immediately, it will be done. So the companies are evolving, moving on and progressing.

Representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are not here to answer our questions. Is the Department just copying and piggybacking on the companies? Surely if the companies develop an app or other product, they would have had a patent on it so that the Department could not use the companies' software? If the Department is covering some of the same things as the companies, is it the same system or has it developed it itself? Are people in the Department developing new software for agfood.ie?