Mr. Michael Davoren:

King Henry VIII once stated the only ways to control the masses were monetary gain or fear. We tried fear and we know it did not work. To answer the question on what the environmentalists think, the product is species-rich grassland, which is what the world craves and it cannot be supplied anywhere else but the Burren. We produce it on the farms in the scheme. The scheme is only four years old but already one can distinguish the farms which are in it from those which are not. Environmentalists cannot find a reason to complain therefore they do not do so.

The Deputy asked an excellent question on feed. Our plan has three parts, one of which is a basic payment from being in a special area of conservation; another is payment for species-rich grassland; and there is also funding for farmers to put in place infrastructure to graze out the winterage properly. Stone walls were mentioned earlier but I did not answer the question at the time. Farmers in REPS were paid to maintain stone walls at the boundaries. This scheme is different, and I will use my farm as an example. All of the yellow lines in this diagram represent winterage walls which had fallen into disrepair. When I fed silage I did so in each of the fields along one yellow line which was by the main road. All of the fields fed into one and the cattle came to eat, then went for water and shelter, and came back to eat again. I received a grant of 25% to put in place a road through the area, which along with my 75% was an injection into the local economy, and I can now feed meal in all of the fields and the old walls have been rebuilt. The fields in which I now feed cattle are the same fields put in place 300 years ago, the walls of which had fallen into disrepair over the past 30 years. We are going back to the future with modern technology. Dr. Moran will explain how 2 kg of meal creates a particular craving in the animal's stomach as it gives them the energy, protein and minerals they need but they must find roughage to digest it, which they do in the field.

As they have the necessary nutrients from the two kilograms of meal, I can afford to let them eat the rank grasses, which have little or no protein or energy but help the cattle to digest the meal. They complement each other. They graze out my winterage areas and I get paid for the species-rich grassland.

I dealt with the role of An Taisce. As An Taisce has nothing to complain about, it does not raise complaints.

The farmers from the Burren will change to whatever breed generates the most money. Like other areas, we have breeders who produce pure bred Charolais cattle, others breed Simmental, Angus and Short horn cattle. We have Galloway and every breed of cattle under the sun. Farmers will have the animals that suits their farm. As in other parts of the country, be it County Meath or Connemara, every field on a farm is different and different grazing techniques are required to get better deliveries. In my opinion as a farmer, the Burren is best for producing store cattle which feed the beef industry, but is not able to produce beef and lamb to the quality of killing in the quantities needed to make it viable. If we had a store cattle market we would be top of the range. A third of the weanlings of the Burren go to the Italian trade, such is the quality of the animals.