Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 9 April 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Future of the Beef Sector in the Context of Food Wise 2025: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was just saying to my colleague that I could have left when the meeting started to return to Count Donegal, had my dinner and returned before it finished. This has been one of our longer meetings. I thank our guests for their patience and the presentation.

Considering that Ireland is such a strong and efficient producer of beef from a carbon emissions point of view, does Mr. Lumley accept the premise that it makes sense in meeting the global demand for beef as an important part of the food chain for Ireland to continue to produce it, that it should be a sector we value and promote domestically? I would appreciate it if Mr. Lumley clarified exactly and concisely what he was saying we should do in considering the future of the beef sector domestically.

On the wider point, Mr. Lumley appeared to be suggesting at the end of his presentation that he saw the value of the milk and dairy sector as a reasonably sustainable and good way of producing food, given some of the difficulties in terms of environmental sustainability associated with other produce such as soya and almond milk. Will he clarify and elaborate on that matter? We are also very efficient producers of milk from a climate change point of view.

On the school pack that was delivered to schools in the last couple of weeks and the dietary advice from An Taisce, given that, from a national health point of view and in many studies meat is seen as a key part of a healthy diet, does Mr. Lumley accept that the message that people should avoid meat provided in it is not territory into which An Taisce should stray?

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