Mr. Pat McCormack:

I will make an attempt at answering some of those questions and my colleagues can come in as they wish. It is hard to quantify the wider rural effect because that could change on an ongoing basis. In answering Deputy Fitzmaurice I said the herd was maturing and that it would bring more and more people into the loop from the perspective of having 106 cows or more in their herds. In effect, that could provide the industry with an ongoing cull, which would be a huge issue. It would particularly undermine those processors who have invested substantially in stainless steel in recent years and find themselves still paying for it. They would find themselves particularly vulnerable if they are not getting the milk and it could bring into question the viability of some of our processors. That would have a hugely detrimental effect on our rural towns and villages because in the vast majority of cases where they are fortunate enough to have a dairy processor near them it is probably the best employer they can have and it is the heartbeat of that rural area. If the heart is turned off there is little life left.

The availability of land is a huge issue and there is the potential for farmers to go down that avenue but the opportunities are very slim. If it was to happen there would be a significant impact for other farmers. The Senator mentioned forestry and there is huge ambition among this Government for afforestation but with nitrates and the single farm payment, as it was in olden times, it is very hard to see those targets being met with this level of regulation. The Senator mentioned cross-Border issues and he said that water knows no bounds. Hopefully there will be no bounds because that would create other issues for our industry as an island nation that is exporting. Mr. Enright might come in on the regulations in the North.