Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their interesting presentation and will ask a couple of short questions. The company produces approximately 98,000 tonnes for Ireland and 130,000 tonnes is the overall Irish production, according to the information sheet provided. Do the witnesses know how much malt barley is imported to the country? Are we producing 70% to 80% of what is required or less than 60% of what is required? The submission mentions sustainability, current cereal prices and Irish producers and how it is open, transparent, market-leading and so on. The difficulty is that farmers have appeared before this committee who cannot get a better price for it. They point to the fact that the industry is held back by the difficulty of knowing whether it will continue to exist into the future and fewer and fewer farmers remain in the tillage sector. In that regard, what does Minch Malt consider its responsibility to be as one of the largest buyers for those farmers?