Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms McCarthy for her excellent presentation. Bord Bia is one of our standard bearers. I had the privilege of being on its board for six years. Its personnel do a very professional job. It has always promoted the food and drinks industry excellently and done a lot to establish markets for our produce. In that context, I refer to the reduction of our reliance on the UK market. Today we talk about Brexit, but 15 or 20 years ago our reliance on the British market was reflected in a far higher percentage of exports.

Leaving that issue aside, I refer to the challenges presented by Brexit and Origin Green. Bearing in mind the fact that a significant amount of the produce we process could soon come from a non-EU member state, what challenges does Ms McCarthy foresee in our promotion of Origin Green status? There could soon be different standards applied in Northern Ireland and the Twenty-six Counties. How does Ms McCarthy think this could impact on the good trademark we have developed in Origin Green?

We have increased Bord Bia's budget. Supplementary amounts were allocated in the last two budgets. If we are serious about reducing our dependence on the UK market and sourcing alternative markets through our offices around the world, what would be a sufficient budget for Bord Bia in the post-Brexit period? There has been a lot of attention focused on the problems we have had in producing cheddar in the context of Brexit. We would have the same problems in the beef sector if UK buyers were to turn to South American countries to source beef. If Bord Bia was to mount a serious drive to divert 30% or 40% of the product exported to the UK market, what resources would be needed?

The Bord Bia quality mark has been a success story, although I have a few cribs about the scheme. On a quality assured farm animals are produced to a certain standard, but only a certain percentage of the animals that leave the farm attract a premium. A consumer can go into a McDonald's restaurant to buy a burger and see the quality mark, but the farmer who produced the beef does not receive a premium for producing it to that standard. We have all bought into the need for quality assurance which retailers and consumers are demanding. However, processors have been allowed to get away with it for too long. I am not saying every animal produced should attract the same premium, but there should definitely be some premium paid on all animals leaving a quality assured farm. The quality assurance scheme in place in the dairy sector is roughly a year and a half old. The dairy sector is different from the beef sector in that a lorry will go to every dairy farm. We will have 100% compliance within a short time.

I would like to ask a question about the use of antibiotics in the dairy industry. The vast majority of dairy farmers use them as a preventive measure. How will this affect the level of quality assurance in the future? Questions have been raised about the level of antibiotic resistance in humans. Will this become a condition of the dairy quality assurance scheme?

When I was a member of the board of Bord Bia, I was always concerned about the lack of focus on live exports. How much of the money spent in the beef sector goes towards developing live export markets? How much money has been spent and how much does Bord Bia plan to spend? An increasing amount of the stock is coming from the diary herd. Live exports are of more importance to us than ever before.

I also have a question about the fifth quarter. Thankfully, its value has increased dramatically, while Bord Bia has played its part in securing markets. As farmers, we find it very hard to determine the value of the fifth quarter to the industry. I would, therefore, like to see greater transparency on its value to processors.

I have two more questions. We have had a discussion about putting a health warning on alcohol products, similar to the one attached to cigarette packets. Bord Bia is trying to promote Irish whiskeys and beers in foreign markets. What is its view on the putting of a health warning on drink products?

The last question I want to ask is related to products which are free of genetically modified organisms. Is there a genuine demand for GMO-free products in the markets we supply? If there is, is meeting that need a practical aspiration for us? Will it create a problem? I refer to the German market, in particular, as we have heard that there is such a demand in Germany. Is it for what the consumer is asking? If it is, are we in a position to fulfil that requirement?