Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am brief for the other Chairman. I will also be brief now because I have to run to the Chamber. My apologies to Mr. Price if I am not here for his full response but I will look back on it. I have found the meeting very interesting and I thank Mr. Price for taking the time to speak to us. The subject of this meeting is exploring technological opportunities to reduce emissions. Am I correct in deducing that Mr. Price is not bringing any proposals regarding technological solutions? Instead, he is looking for two things, the first of which is quotas for beef and dairy production. How does he envisage quotas would work? How would they be applied and determined? Would there be a new market for the quotas themselves, as much as for the food as a commodity? How would that work in practice? The second thing Mr. Price is seeking, if I have deduced it properly, is for people to eat fewer meat and dairy products. Does he see a role for red meat and dairy as part of a healthy balanced diet or would it be satisfactory if people did not eat those products at all?

The Danish model is essentially a very intensive factory farming model. Mr. Price said he would not recommend that. A number of us are members of the agriculture committee and we have a view of what precise model of agriculture will be in place if his vision were to materialise. Does Mr. Price accept that, as has been laid out, what is being proposed would be an end to the family farm model as it has traditionally applied in Ireland? What is his vision for Irish agriculture and how would it affect food production, community development and the make-up of our rural communities?