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

I am sorry for interrupting but it should be made clear that when the €100 million was made available, including the €50 million from Europe, €70 million or €75 million was paid because cattle prices were on the floor. Some of the schemes Ms McPhillips mentioned existed before the task force was set up. We are seeing a reduction of 5% because of the BEAM scheme. It needs to be noted that we are not getting extra money. Farmers have lost €200 per head on the price of cattle. They have received €100, which I believe is 25 cent per kilo. That is not even half the loss. As such, I do not believe that we can say that farmers were compensated fully for their losses. They were not. I understand that there is no money in the Exchequer to do so, but we must be clear on this point when we speak about how much money is being made available.

With all the work that was done, does the Chinese market only account for 3,000 tonnes? At the time of the protest, I had to negotiate to try to get a Chinese group into a plant. Given how much beef has gone to China, it was a waste of time for the beef sector. Is that fair to say?