Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Beautiful. There is nothing like it. That is a good start anyway.

The witnesses stated that 1% of the total production is down to organic in the agriculture sector and that there had been an increase of 9% from 2014 to 2015. We had a debate here on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, part of which would be to do with genetically modified, GM, produce and cross-contamination. Are GM foods in use having any effect in Ireland? Is Irish produce completely free of that? If there are GM crops being grown or if there is a proposal that GM crops be grown, will that be a problem for organic production?

What type of representation do organic producers have with farming organisations? It seems there is a big opening in organic farming, particularly given climate change and the related problems of mounting emissions for those involved in the production of cattle, sheep, etc.

The figures given show produce of approximately €100 million. Are those the real figures? There are probably farmers who are rearing lambs, sheep, etc., who would have their own customers and would not be in the commercial market but I would say the figure is much bigger than that, if one were looking at it that way.

Much of the presentation suggests that most customers of produce on the retail side would be those on middle incomes who would have a lot of disposable income in their hands rather than those at the lower end of the income ladder. Is there any way around that, through providing subsidies or whatever, to help promote the benefits of organic produce?