Mr. Pat McCormack:

We do not underestimate the challenge that is out there for the suckler calf, which has to pay for the maintenance of itself and of its mother. It is a huge task. Teagasc has done work in conjunction with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, on the dairy beef index, DBI, and it is critical that the offspring of the dairy herd that will be sold is fit for purpose in the beef industry, whether that is to double suckle, to go from calf to weanling or to go from calf to finish. It is critical and we all need, particularly given recent events, to recognise that the offspring of the dairy herd has to be fit for purpose and have a value within the beef industry.

Equally, its contribution to the beef industry needs to be acknowledged where up to 56% and 57% of the kill comes from the dairy herd. That is why, perhaps, it is very important that there is a co-operation and unity rather than the divide that has crept in to the industry in that regard in the last decade from a beef perspective. We would be very open to encouraging Teagasc, ICBF, or indeed anybody else, in such co-operation.