Ms Audrey O'Shea:

Glanbia Ingredients Ireland has not carried out any modelling on targets up to 2020 or 2050. Perhaps members of Teagasc would be the most appropriate people to answer that question.

The data that have come out of New Zealand are a couple of years old at this stage. They relate to the type of cow found in New Zealand and the intensive, factory-type model it has.

We have been constrained due to quota regulation to the present day. Our farmers, depending on the number of cows they have, have a certain quota per litre of milk that they can produce. We expect to catch up with New Zealand quickly once the quota regime is reduced post-2015 because our cows will be able to produce more milk. This will reduce emissions and rumen because what happens is when the cow eats the food, it either converts into methane and belches it out or converts it into milk. If our cows are able to produce more milk, they will be more efficient. Each unit of cow will produce less methane and more milk, thereby reducing the amount of carbon associated with a litre of milk produced.