Mr. Declan Fennell:

In terms of these light lambs and what was mentioned earlier, those markets in Portugal and Spain were traditional markets. We still are exporting these light lambs to markets like Tunisia. In 2014, 600 tonnes of light lambs were exported to the Tunisian market. We are in a marketplace where we are competing against the UK and New Zealand. While Ireland exports 43,000 tonnes, we are competing against the UK, which is putting in more than 100,000 tonnes of exports, or New Zealand, with more than 360,000 tonnes. The resounding signal we are getting back from the marketplace is that it is looking for a very clear, tight specification. If that is traced back from a retail pack to the actual lamb carcass specification, the target is between 18 kg and 21 kg.

We have a challenge in terms of hill lamb and I agree with Deputy Ó Cuív that in some cases, it will be a very difficult challenge. There are areas we can try to develop. There are examples in the west of Ireland where groups are looking at breeding programmes and at how they can get a better-framed animal up to a French weight. There is no magic-----