Mr. Tim Cullinan:

The Senator is right. We have massive concerns, one of which concerns feed. If we are going to survive, we are going to have to get a better return from the marketplace. There are two areas we can get that. I will speak about the pig one while Mr. Sweetnam will speak about the poultry one. Fifty percent of what pig farmers produce is sold here at retail level. It is paramount that we get regulation around this in order that we can see where the margin is and regulate so that we will get a fair price going forward. That is part of the solution.

We can look at energy as well. For years, we have been listening to the Government saying that farmers are part of the solution in respect of climate change. If the Government had a proper policy on renewable energy, we could become energy producers ourselves, which would alleviate part of the problem around energy, so there is more we can do. The Senator is right. We need to look at where our energy is coming from. The value of energy being imported into this country is in the region of €8 billion per year. We as farmers are willing and able and have been asking the Government for support on this for a long number of years. It is high time Government took this issue seriously.

They are the areas we must work on. Inputs like feed are out of our control. It is about market forces and world market prices and we have to deal with those. The solution in the pig sector and other sectors is, first of all, about being able to get a proper price at retail level. Obviously, we will have to work on world markets as well. There is a job of work for Bord Bia to do to find and open up new markets. There are markets in regions of North America and we need more promotion. There is demand for pigmeat in California at present. These are areas we need to focus on. We all understand that the past two years were very difficult for our agencies, including Bord Bia. The Minister was on his first trade mission in Dubai only two weeks ago. We need to see more trade missions. We need to get out there and get a foothold in new markets. Mr. Sweetnam will give us an update on the poultry sector.