Mr. Enda Monaghan:

I would say it is between 70 cent and €1 per kilogramme. It depends on whether one is part of a group that is strong enough to negotiate. I was involved with a group and we met a factory that brushed us aside. We said that was fine and that we would not supply any organic beef to it but, rather, that we would sell it to the conventional market. After two weeks, the factory came back to us because it had identified its market but could not get any beef to sell into it. As a result, we did a good deal.

It is a pity that the cost to the local butcher is too great. If get less than €1 per kilogramme from a lamb, the most I will make is €20 but the average would be more likely to be €12 or €15. Every time the lamb is handled thereafter, the price seems to double. I do not know why lamb is so expensive for the housewife, particularly if we are only getting 15% more. Local butchers have to pay a licence fee and they do not want to bother doing that. If the Government were serious about promoting organic produce, it would be helping butchers and retailers to get that licence for nothing.

The licence is a barrier in front of us.

Another thing that is often said is that the polluter pays. We are not polluting but we are still paying. There is something wrong there. We are producing the cleanest food in Europe. When we were dealing with the factory they told us that the Germans could not figure out how there were so many zeros when they test the food. I saw a report that came from Sweden. Conventional food had a toxicity of 0.15%, and organic had 0.0003%. It is 1,000 times less toxic. We are the same here. Our beef and lamb and food in general is of a higher class than central Europe because we do not have the pollution from industrial chimneys over the years, but our organic is simply superior. We are not getting paid though, and barriers are put in front of those with licences. The Government should be dealing directly with the certification bodies and paying them. It should not be up to us. They should be going to the butchers and giving them a grant to promote organic.