Mr. Henry O'Donnell:

There is an opportunity in general terms to increase the resilience of our farms and perhaps appreciate some of the farming systems we have that are not hugely dependent on outside inputs and imports.

I have already touched on beef going into the UK. It is an area which will be coming under pressure. We need to be imaginative to do something with our produce and not just be selling it is as the lowest cost alternative. Traditionally, there is much trade between Ireland and the UK simply because it is cheap. As to how sustainable that is for farm families is another question. There has to be an opportunity for our naturally reared beef to be sold at a premium. Farmers need help to develop this. We have already looked at this with Bord Bia. Hopefully, something will be initiated.

There is the whole area of the diaspora. There are so many second-generation Irish in the UK whose parents or grandparents came from Ireland. We have a connection with these people. If we marketed our produce properly, a market could be developed which would have significant returns for farmers and be good for everybody.

There are definitely opportunities in the sheep sector. We need to see how Brexit pans out. At least the sheep industry can be developed in a relatively short time span. Our sheep farmers would step up to the mark and produce more if they saw a viable return from it, as there has been this year.

I agree with the Senator on the potato sector. As Mr. Cullinan said, it takes a bit more time to develop that sector but we have to be imaginative and look at things differently. Just because we have had trading relations in the past, there is no reason why high-quality produce from our farms cannot be sold to alternative markets and, hopefully, even at higher prices.