Mr. Padraig Brennan:

On the beef price difference, at the moment an organic finished animal is selling for somewhere between €4.90 and €5 per kilogram. That is a premium of between 10% and 12% over and above the average price achieved for a conventional animal at the moment. That is somewhat narrower than what the difference would normally have been but, as the Deputy mentioned, there has been stability in the organic price whereas the conventional cattle price has fluctuated more. We have gone through a stronger period in conventional cattle prices over the last three or four months, thankfully, which has meant the premium is not what it would have been two years ago, for example. There has consistently been a price premium of between 8% and 10% in recent years and in most cases it has been greater than that.

The Deputy's second point is really about co-ordinating supply. I mentioned the considerable level of leakage of animals from the organic sector into the conventional sector when they arrive through a livestock mart or whatever. Even co-ordinating that supply base better would help to make more product available and put us in a position to meet some of the supply opportunities that exist, not only in the Irish market but also overseas. There is a job to be done at an overall sector level to see how we can best co-ordinate that supply to ensure that when producers go to the effort to convert to an organic enterprise their supply continues to be in the organic channel, right through to slaughter. That would help in the average price return.