Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. That is a very relevant comment, because much of the expert advice that is given through technical working groups is provided free by interested parties whose background is employment or involvement with someone who supports Animal Health Ireland. Other agencies doing fine work are funded fully and everything they do is a cost on the State. It is important that we keep this issue on the agenda, particularly since the industry is so important and faces such challenges. One of the reasons we invited Animal Health Ireland to this committee was to give it the opportunity to explain the work it does in this forum. In the context of the current situation, animal health and the status of the national herd are ever more important. Bio-security issues and new challenges arise continually and we need business plans to cope with new diseases we knew nothing about ten years ago. We have seen the plans for the four mentioned here, but unfortunately there may be more. That is the problem. We must look to the potential damage their growth could do to the ambition outlined in Food Harvest 2020.

I thank the witnesses for their contributions, which have been useful to the committee. Hopefully, we will soon have a conclusion to our CAP negotiations and will have Food Harvest 2020 implementation groups in place for the dairy and beef sectors with agreed targets and deadlines.