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

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for the contributions. I have some questions following on from the discussion we had with people in before the current delegations. What percentage of animal feed and protein used as feed in Ireland is imported? I am wondering about the potential. I am conscious of much of this talk of Origin Green, and is it really Origin Green if we are bringing protein from the far side of the Atlantic to feed the cattle? It does not fit properly but it is something we should look at.

The next issue might be related. My understanding is that in Ireland we do not produce many of our own vegetables and many vegetables in our shops are imported to this country. What percentage of our vegetable market is imported and what potential is there for change? If we are talking about the miles that food must travel to get to a person, as well as the miles that inputs must travel, this is relevant.

The dairy issue is interesting and I have been looking at it for a while. We were told that as the dairy herd expanded, it would not have any real impact as it was expected that others would go down. I have a theory that the big plan was that the dairy herd might expand by 30% over a period and we could, with sex selection, produce replacement dairy animals and a beef calf from the bull calf, and that would almost replace the need for a suckler sector. Is there any truth in that? Many of the suckler farmers around the country are looking for supports. Is there another programme in place that is not being mentioned?

Dr. O'Mara mentioned research into trying to mitigate the emissions from our bovines.

Mr. Kent mentioned a project in Denmark which is looking at various feed changes which, I assume, is about the science of the digestive system of the animal. What is being done in that regard? Is there science which could help to change that and to move that along?

I have what I suppose is a broader question. Food Wise 2025 is about increasing production, mainly in the dairy and beef sectors because those are our two big sectors. If our production is to increase, those are the sectors that will really increase. With the advent of Brexit which will have an impact because we export so much of both our dairy and beef product to Britain and the potential of Food Wise 2025 on which one can say we should plough ahead anyway, are we placing ourselves in a position where we could be back here in three years time sitting around this table talking about the crisis in our dairy and beef sectors because there are not markets for all this production that we ploughed ahead with because we decided that it was the right thing to do regardless of the consequences? I wonder have we thought this through. We all hope for the best from the Brexit negotiations but the reality is the Brexit negotiations are going in a direction which will be detrimental to the Irish food sector. At some stage, we must sit up and take cognisance of that and wonder where it will go.

In regard to the organic sector, Deputy McConalogue is correct. We have on many occasions talked about what can be done and what scheme can be put in place to get more producers into organics. I wonder how much has gone into both the domestic and export markets for organics. There are many niche products. Can we make mainstream some of those sectors so that they can become a possibility for other producers, particularly, I suppose, on the marginal land where one would not conduct intensive farming, as a future for them to sustain the family farm in those areas?