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

I thank the witnesses for their submissions. I have a few questions for both organisations.

The two organisations have been in at the task force. When they were working on the task force, was Northern Ireland being brought in to protected geographical indication status discussed? What is in return for that? Do the organisations have any agreement? Did they look for the nomad cattle rule to be abolished if Northern Ireland wants to come in with us to seek PGI status? Did they secure that when they agreed to PGI status? Was the logo that Bord Bia is using for PGI discussed? Was it agreed by the farming organisations before the committee?

My final question relates to calves. It is my understanding that a large buyer in Holland may no longer be functioning. The buyer was purchasing up to 4,000 calves per week. How will that problem be solved? I have talked to calf exporters. There was talk here last week about Spain. There appears to be problems getting calves to Spain. Where do the organisations see the outlets? If there are no outlets, what are we going to do? Are we going to flood the market here? What are the solutions?