Mr. Kevin Kinsella:

On Senator Mulherin's question, I have been at every meeting of the beef forum except for the last one. Every time we raise cattle prices with factories there, the Minister holds up his hand and says "Stop, you cannot raise that issue. I will not allow you to raise that issue here. I cannot discuss cattle prices". We do not accept that and we try to continue discussion and to engage with him, but that has been the Minister's response at the beef forum. Members should understand that that is part of the frustration that our president and livestock chairman had to endure at meeting after meeting.

Second, we did take very strong action prior to the last beef forum. Thankfully we got a response with the help of this committee, including the Senator, the Chairman and others. The pressure was so heavy that the Minister had to respond and he did put €20 million and an additional €40 on sucklers. That was positive and we take it to be so, but it happened because we put on great pressure and ran a very strong campaign and as part of that, the president decided to pull out of the beef forum. It worked in getting additional money for the suckler farmers, which should be borne in mind.

I will make a couple of points regarding today's proceedings. First, we very much welcome this committee's support for sucklers and for the report that Professor Thia Hennessey compiled, which everyone present has complimented. It is a clear message to Irish farmers and agriculture that there is broad consensus across the Houses of the Oireachtas in support of the suckler cow herd in this country. It is very strong IFA policy and a very strong statement from this committee and the Houses.

Everyone who spoke at this meeting has observed, in some way, that the suckler herd needs increased support. The IFA has a clear policy that we want an additional €200 per cow into the sector. I did not hear anyone speak against that today. We take that as a positive thing and that people generally support that. Members of this committee and the Oireachtas have been very strong and very upfront in supporting that which is a positive development and which we welcome.

This committee has shown a strong sentiment on the important role of sucklers in the Irish beef sector, its exports and perhaps most importantly, regarding the farmers who members represent and how the sector keeps society together. In a crucial part of her report, Professor Hennessey highlighted the role that sucklers and suckler farming play in their local economy.

Deputy Martin Kenny highlighted that very clearly in terms of what happens in marts in County Leitrim. The very positive role of sucklers was also evident in counties Donegal, Westmeath and every other county to which we went. It is important that we put that on the record of the committee.

There were many questions on what we can do, how this works and where the factories fit in. To be clear, the role of Oireachtas Members is as legislators. As to how they can help on this issue, the first thing that is needed is increased Government support for the suckler sector. Members of the committee agree that that is required. We propose that the level of direct payments be increased to €200 per cow. We need more national resources and funding. As legislators, members have a key role to play in that regard. In fairness, they played that card strongly in the lead-up to the budget. They will have to do so again in terms of future schemes, budgets and reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Second, we have advocated for additional payments for quality beef. There should be a quality payment in regard to suckler beef. Members have a role to play as legislators in trying to progress that issue, along with processors, Bord Bia, the Minister and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and in supporting the case we are making.

Much of the issue in regard to factories results from a lack of competition in that area. Members have a key role as legislators in that regard. The first thing they can do is to strongly support the live export trade, which was a point raised by Deputy Cahill and others. We ask members to offer us strong support in advocating for the live export trade and trying to maximise our number of live exports. We are facing a big challenge in calf exports and the increase in the dairy herd this spring and we ask the committee to help us in that regard and to continue to push for the best positive result.

My colleague, Mr. Woods, addressed CAP reform and international trade agreements in detail. As legislators, members have a significant role to play on those issues in terms of increasing the level of direct payments to sucklers under CAP, ensuring that direct payments to livestock farmers continue and, of course, in respect of international trade agreements such as with Mercosur, which involves countries such as Brazil.

We will take many positives from today's meeting, such as members' support for the suckler sector and the strong, unequivocal support of the committee for the campaign to increase direct payments to €200 per cow. We thank the committee in that regard.