Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If we compare the beef industry with the dairy industry, there is a basket of dairy products and we know to within half a cent what a litre of milk is worth. In this day and age, we should be able to calculate what the market is returning for beef and determine, within €20 or €30, what a carcass is worth and if a fair price is being paid. The beef forum should be able to do that. We should be able to determine what the returns are in the market given that we can do this on the dairy side. Various indices show what different products are worth and we can determine what a litre of milk is worth to within a fraction of a cent. Surely we can do the same on the beef side in this day and age.