Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá fáilte roimh go léir an tráthnóna seo. A lot of what I want to ask has been asked so I am not going to repeat the questions and Senator Paul Daly's questions clarified quite a lot. I have always been supportive of farmers, as the witnesses will know, and I have been very supportive of farmers in Roscommon, and I spoke to quite a few farmers at the day out there. I am not on this committee but I am from a farming background and I help out on our own farm in Roscommon.

There is no doubt there is a huge crisis in the sheep industry, which has been so much part and parcel of our heritage for so long. It is very important that we try to get all the supports possible, and I believe there will be an increase in the sheep welfare payment. This has been going on for too long. The witnesses make a very good case in terms of, if not moving away from environmental grants, then acknowledging that food production grants are very important.

We live in a world that needs food, which has been forgotten in many of the environmental debates. It is important to say that, in recent years, farmers are sometimes nearly treated as criminals in the environmental debate. When you are raised on a farm, you feel the finger is always being pointed. As long as I have known the farming community, I know the vast majority of farmers always cared for the environment and always cared about nature because we were brought up with it. I always say we are the best environmentalists of the whole lot. However, that is not well recognised in today's world, particularly in Ireland, and that attitude needs to change.

There is no question that Brexit has had a bigger effect on the lamb market than other areas, which is one of the reasons we should try to get more money out of the Brexit fund for the farming community. I want to turn to Michael and Brendan Crosse. I missed the first part of the presentation. If it is okay with the Chair and the other members, I would ask for a very brief synopsis of where Sheep Milk Ireland is coming from, just to give me some idea of it.