Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to develop a little on what my colleagues, Deputies Willie Penrose and Pat Deering, asked. What exactly is the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF? Who owns it? What is its structure? Is it a not-for-profit organisation or a charity, which would mean all assets have to be distributed to other non-profit organisations in the event of a dissolution?

While Mr. Coughlan stated there are farm bodies on the board, who owns it and what are its legal structures? Is it a co-operative, a private company or what is it? It is fair to state the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation will get a lot more business as a result of this programme. Is the ICBF the only outfit - I do not mean that in a pejorative way - or the only organisation in the country that will carry out this genotyping? If so, is there anything to prevent a monopoly in respect of increasing the prices? Do the federation's staff members, including the witnesses, have performance-related or profit-related pay, because obviously there will be a great deal more business coming its way as a result of this programme? To revert to the question asked by Deputy Deering, what was the ICBF's role in the design of the scheme? Was it consulted formally or informally at any point along the way and if so, when? Did the federation have input into the design of the scheme or into the tweaking of the scheme in any way? That is it from my side for the moment.