Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will start with the banding. An interesting point was made about the 15% in the cohort that will be caught in respect of the banding. Has the Department done any analysis as to what reduction in numbers would be required? The majority of us would run on the basis of the life cycle of a cow being eight to ten years and, therefore, the breeding programme will have to change. That stock will have to be born. If I am stuck with a high-yielding cow, it will probably take me the bones of five, six or seven years for my herd profile to change dramatically such that I could drop the band and, therefore, in that five or six years the only way I could meet the criteria under the directive would be to have a cull. Have the witnesses any idea as to what that potential is out there at the moment?