Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the witnesses. My first question is for the representatives of MII. A lot of cattle have crossed the Border in the past six months. Does MII represent both sides of the Border or just one side? Do they envisage that production will be ramped up more in the North in light of the Northern Ireland protocol and that in the event of a hard Brexit more cattle would travel on the hoof?

What factories does MII represent? I understand that all the large processors here have factories in the UK. How many factories do they own between them in the UK? Is it helpful to us that they are operating on both sides of the Irish Sea?

We know that many sheep have come across the Border and sheep have come from England; let us call them the cast ewes. Obviously, that will incur a tariff if there is a hard Brexit. Will that be a problem?

I presume the dairy sector needs to get more calves out on the hoof because if not, we will certainly have a calamity here. As Deputy Carthy pointed out, farmers fear that if there is a backlog of cattle, we clearly know what happens to the price for the farming community.

I may be wrong, but on exports I note that the tariff on cheese is lower than on milk. Why is there such a tariff discrepancy on different items?

Do the witnesses or people from their organisations go to Europe to talk to the different representative bodies? Have they spoken to MEPs about meat? Representatives of the IFA and INFHA have appeared before the committee. Europe is importing beef and there is the Mercosur deal as well as other agreements. Would the witnesses favour a proper pricing intervention if in addition to tariffs there was to be a big sudden shock preventing us getting into the UK? Have they considered looking at that to alleviate the problem straightaway?

Is MII disappointed with the tonnage of beef that has gone to China? It seems to be an unmitigated disaster compared with the amount of beef going out to those countries two years ago which would have probably helped us alleviate things. I know that Brazil is sending a good bit in. Are the witnesses disappointed with those markets? Should Bord Bia be doing other things?

A question was asked earlier about the suckler PGI status. If we get suckler PGI status will there be a greater premium price for that if it is marketed properly?