Mr. Joe Healy:

I thank the members for the questions. While I admire their views and we love to see people thinking in the same way as we do, we need to recognise that the members are the people who have been elected and are in power. We need to lobby them to get done many of the things they have raised. We are dependent on them, as our politicians, to get them over the line. We will divide up the questions between us so that members will not get too bored of any voice going on for too long.

The Chairman asked about Brexit. At times we might be forgiven for wondering if there is any other story in town. From a farming point of view it is the big story and the major concern. It is by far in a way the greatest threat to farmers and agriculture. We have seen its impact already with the volatility and movement in currency. On the day of the Brexit referendum, 23 June, the exchange rate was 76p or 77p to €1 and that has now gone to 89p or 90p to €1, which is an incredible movement over a short space of time.

I just came from a Bord Bia board meeting where it dominated the agenda in respect of how best to spend the extra allocation given to Bord Bia and whether some of it should be spent in the UK, which is our largest market for beef. There is not even a close second; it takes over 50% of our beef. It takes 42% or 43% of our total agrifood exports with a total value of €4.8 billion going to the UK. The board members were asking themselves whether money should be spent there to try to enhance the market we have there and to try to create such an awareness that in the event of a worst-case scenario of the UK doing its own trade deals, our beef products would be so prominent in consumers' minds that they would decide to stay with it but at a price, or whether it should be spent elsewhere in other markets.

We are very involved with Brexit. Even before the referendum, we organised a number of events to create awareness of the issues, and highlight the worst-case scenarios and the importance of the UK as a market.