Mr. Sean Coughlan:

I will take a couple of the questions and Dr. Cromie shall respond to Deputy Ó Cuív.

With regard to the question on compliance, approximately 90% are compliant for 2018. The key point to remember, which is one of the key points we were making at the meetings, is that when we look at farmers' Euro-star ratings, we see a significant weighting among four and five-star animals towards the older cows. As we have bred further generations, we have been breeding the maternal traits out of them. That is the picture today but one must ask how many of those older cows will actually be in the herds in 2017, 2018 and later. While the figures look good right now, it is critical that we do not take our eye off the ball and that we start a breeding strategy right away to ensure we are regenerating more and more four and five-star animals.

Registration within 27 days is a requirement of the scheme. I have no doubt that if there are extenuating circumstances affecting why a calf is not registered, force majeurearrangements will apply. The same applies to the Chairman's questions on land and TB-related depopulation.

On Deputy Connaughton's point, we work very closely with Teagasc. It is an independent entity that is examining how we put together the evaluations. Much of the work we do and the economic models we use to put together the evaluations are based on work done by Mr. Paul Crosson in Teagasc, Grange. Therefore, there is independence.

The Deputy is correct that there is some resistance and unease over the combining of science with what people consider to be the traditional art of cattle breeding. It is not a case of either–or; one combines the best of both but genomic data and genetic evaluations can indicate to a farmer certain characteristics he cannot see just by looking at an animal.