Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will carry on from where Deputy Cahill stopped. The body of work for this committee is to analyse where the future of the beef industry lies based on a SWOT analysis. The Department conducted the SWOT analysis in 2015. That was before David Cameron even decided to have a referendum on Brexit, before the referendum took place on 23 June 2016 and before the British public made a huge mistake in terms of their decision on Brexit. How accurate is the analysis in view of all that has happened since 2015? Are the findings up to date? Climate change is coming down the line. How will we square the circle of increasing production while people on the other side of the argument complain that stock numbers have been increased by too much?

It is a fact that 115% of a suckler farmer's income comes from Europe. I imagine such a situation is unsustainable going forward. The only way that viability for suckler farmers can be maintained is by getting a decent and fair price for their product at the other end of the scale.

That is where the problem lies. What more has been done to try and equalise the situation, particularly as the 115% will not be sustainable? How can farmers with suckler herds remain viable without depending on the money that comes from Europe on an annual basis?

I will feed back into the conversation Deputy Cahill started about SWOT analysis and the strengths, weaknesses and challenges for the industry, of which there are many. The strengths are the obvious ones we know about, grass fed and so on and so forth, and traceability. The weaknesses and challenges are probably greater in 2019 than they were in 2015 when the analysis was done. Ms McPhillips might address those points when she is ready.