Mr. Damian McDonald:

The Food and Agriculture Organization figures show that the global population will increase significantly by 2050. The planet will need 70% more food to feed those people. Every country is going to have to play its part in that. It is not Bord Bia that is driving the demand for dairy and beef products all over the planet. It is not even being driven by the western world. It is being driven by newly developing countries that are acquiring new tastes and have a demand for these products. There will be global demand. It is the case that if we do not produce a kilogram of beef in Ireland it will be produced somewhere else. It may well be produced in Brazil through a reduction in rainforest cover. That is the reality. Ireland will not control, decide or stop the march of the global demand for these products. To be fair to the Deputy, we have to realise what has happened in the dairy sector. The context here is that we had a milk quota in this country from 1984 to 2015. There was huge pent-up demand for expansion. Naturally when that was lifted we saw an increase in the number of dairy cows, as was predicted, in 2016, 2017 and 2018. There probably will be further increases in the next few years. It is impossible to predict for how long it will go on.