Mr. Brendan Crosse:

On that, if you get on a two-hour plane journey down to the south of France, Spain or Italy, you will see 1 million sheep being milked in France and 2 million in Spain. In Greece, more sheep milk is produced than cow milk. It is a massive industry globally and particularly around the Mediterranean basin. Nowhere in that area has the grass potential of Ireland. They are also now facing challenges in production. There is nowhere north of Toulouse apart from Ireland and the UK that has the sheep density required to grasp the opportunity to produce a premium dairy product for the market. There is an established market for the product. That is the thing as well. The sheep milk industry is probably older than the cow milk industry. Sheep were one of the first animals to be domesticated. Similar to the meat, sheep milk is linked into many festivals. There is a real opportunity to go into proven markets. There is no work to be done in marketing here. We are seeking to import milk into these markets as a premium product because it is from Ireland and grass-based. There is serious demand for sheep cheese products alone and Ireland can take serious advantage of that.