Mr. Frank Nyhan:

I thank members for their comments and questions. Fortunately, I am accompanied today by people who can answer each of them in detail and I will pass them down the line as they arise. On the question regarding sanctions, there are people before the courts. When they are dealt with by the courts, they will be dealt with by Bord na gCon. We must be conscious of due process. As members will be aware, we have been challenged before the courts on numerous occasions. We have to be sure that the sanctions we impose stand up. We have not been slow in the recent past to impose sanctions on transgressors and we will not be slow in doing so in the future. On the cases currently before the courts, we will have to be somewhat circumspect in our responses.

On the RTÉ programme, we have submitted a complaint to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in that regard, to which we have not yet had a response. Our veterinary director is present today. What the veterinary surgeon had to say in that programme is not correct, and demonstrably not correct. The substance to which he referred has been tested for every year since 2005 and it has not been detected. That is a fact. I will now hand over to the other members of the executive, who will deal with the remaining questions.