Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not mean to rush this part of the meeting, but I have a duty, as Chairman, to allow in another group which is waiting patiently to make a contribution. In these hearings we are dealing with four issues. The other three are pricing and the impact on primary and secondary suppliers; support for local producers; and labelling. These issues are very pertinent to the individuals whom the delegates represent. I made the point before the meeting that we were not directly dealing with the code of practice. I do not mean to simplify the issues involved, but processing fresh milk is the most basic of processing procedures. It takes a lot of sophisticated equipment and investment, but it is straightforward, with a 24 hour turnaround time or less and next-day delivery. Therefore, there can only be a certain amount of intervention by the processor and the distributor. When all of this is taken into account, there is still an underlying issue with regard to the overall price. That is the reason I spoke about the situation in New Zealand and Australia because I know for a fact that they had to introduce a method to support a continuous supply of fresh product because domestic consumers in New Zealand would not tolerate UHT milk. It is a farce and rather like saying we will produce beef for export and use a beef substitute at home. We have had enough of this and it may be an unfortunate example to use. My point is, however, that it would be completely unacceptable if good quality beef was not available in this country, one of the world's largest exporters of beef. The same applies to milk. Members of the committee have summarised the core issues involved in their questions and we need to take the information supplied on board. We have invited representatives of the Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency to attend and the value of that invitation has been confirmed by this discussion. I thank all the delegates for their attendance.