Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Professor Boyle was asked a question earlier about building up capital reserves and Teagasc sold assets in 2016. Going forward, how sustainable is it to sell assets to fund daily operations? He said that "this fund will be ring-fenced and only used as we need it". That seems to me to be contradictory so perhaps Professor Boyle might clarify what he meant by that.

On the wage bill where two thirds of the budget goes on pay and pensions, I understand that it is not the same model as any business but could someone outline how this compares internationally, perhaps with the United Kingdom equivalent? Is it normal to have two thirds of the total spend going on pensions and wages?

On the 18,000 ha of land owned by Teagasc, will someone tell me what percentage of that is in forestry? Is that managed by Coillte or Teagasc?

One of the speakers asked about who decided what assets to sell. We did not get an answer on that. We were talking about the Kinsealy site. Who prioritised what lands should be disposed of in that rationalisation programme and is there a list of those assets anywhere?

On the fodder crisis, in relation to which we have had a number of incidents in the past year, many of the EU directives refer to farming by calendar. During the summer at the start of the good weather in July, in areas of Ireland such as the west and the midlands, many farmers wanted to cut hay early. As it turned out the weather stayed good longer than anticipated and it all worked out well in the end. Will Professor Boyle give his view on the wisdom of farming by calendar while on the other hand speaking about erratic climate incidents? It does not make sense to me that on the one hand there are rigid timeframes for cutting silage or hay or spreading slurry and then on the other hand to say that weather changes and it is unlikely to be a one-off, as one of the witnesses said earlier. If we look to the future of farming, that incident caused a lot of stress to farmers over the summer months because they were worrying about the winter ahead of their animals.

Is there anything the professor can suggest that we can do to mitigate some of that concern and worry?

The professor said - maybe I misinterpreted him - that most farms could double their grass output, which would obviously offset a fodder incident. Could he give us some examples of how he is getting down to the grassroots farmers? I am sure it is like anything in that it is probably those who need it the most do not engage in the process. Could the professor speak to that?

On the six research facilities, I would imagine that these facilities do a lot of work with disease control and testing. Do these facilities do testing for other countries? What I am getting at here is how prepared those research facilities are for Brexit. Can Professor Boyle elaborate on the cross-Border and UK relationships in this respect?