Mr. Philip Carroll:

There are 13 separate companies, with separate owners.

The Senator also asked about the Beef Plan Movement's suggestion that there should be a representative of farmers on factory floors. I do not know how that would work or what would be the view of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in that regard. Our export factories are all licensed by the Department and supervised by a permanent team of veterinary staff, including a veterinary inspector with overall responsibility for the plant. There could be 12 or 14 temporary veterinary inspectors, contracted by the Department, in a plant every day. They supervise the kill line, the boning hall, the intake and everything else that goes with processing in plants. A range of technical agricultural officers are ever present in plants, although I could not say how many there are, and the number has recently been increased. The competent authority for all matters concerning meat and dairy production and processing is the Department, and I cannot see a role for anybody else in that process. It is the authority that determines the rules and regulations, which it is mandated to do by the European Union.

Mr. Healy might elaborate on a few points.