Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation and answers so far. I want to ask them about the potential in terms of diversification of the use of crops for not only human consumption, but animal consumption and energy. I am thinking of oilseed rape, for example. I know it was not being processed here. Are we still exporting it for processing? Do the witnesses see it as an opportunity we are missing by not processing it here and using it as a product for animal feed? That is the first question.

I have a similar question about pulses and whether we are exploiting the potential that pulses have on all of those levels. My other question is about sugar beet and the fact it can be so successfully used in bioethanol plants. Do the witnesses think it would be a good way for us to proceed here to meet our targets and potentially for exporting? My other question is about the failure of the experiment with willow and miscanthus. Do the witnesses have any views on why that failed or what was wrong? On the face of it, it looked as though it would have been ideal for generating a crop that could be converted into energy. How did that fail and are there any lessons to be learned from that failure?