Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the guests. I wish to be associated with the Chair’s remarks in welcoming Mr. O’Toole and congratulating him on his appointment. I wish him the best of luck in his tenure going forward. I believe it is his first time – of many, hopefully – before the committee.

I have a couple of quick questions. I prefer to give the time to the people from Bord Bia to give their answers rather than me being long-winded in the questioning. The key buzzword, for want of a better phrase, in Mr. O’Toole’s statement is sustainable food production - call it sustainable food production or call it eco- or environmentally-friendly. On the back of our climate action plan, land use and land-use change, a lot of the policy that is proposed or being implemented would be in land use and land-use change, where we have forestry targets. If those forestry targets were to be met – that is a big “if” – it is land coming out of production. We have nitrates regulations with the derogation under pressure and the potential drop from 250 kg to 220 kg or perhaps lower, and cow banding, which is probably cows coming out of production. We are limiting chemical fertiliser, which is bound to potentially reduce yield and tonnage of production.

Based on those facts and that direction we are going in - which is necessary, do not get me wrong – can Mr. O’Toole see the day coming where Bord Bia will not be able to fulfil its order book, let alone try to expand it? How does he see all that balancing out at the end of the day if we are to get everything right from an environmental direction? It is bound to reduce our output eventually. How does he see squaring that circle when it comes to meeting existing orders? Let alone that, we are all putting pressure on Bord Bia to expand and to get further new orders and new markets. I would like Mr. O’Toole’s opinion on how he sees all that squaring up.

What is Bord Bia’s role? It is to market existing product. Does it have any role in the development of a potential sector if it sees a market for a product that we are not already producing? What I have in mind is we had people in here who were starting sheep milk production. They told us the cheese from sheep milk is very much in demand and a high added-value product with great potential.

If Bord Bia identified a market for that, has it any role, or could it play any role, in assisting those people to get that sector off the ground? What role would it play in that regard? Could it liaise with the representatives of the Department or whoever else might be in a position to get a new product off the ground, as opposed to going out and marketing an existing product?

I would like to talk about a bugbear of mine. There are many issues about animal welfare in respect of calves that are exported. I have always asked why we cannot send calves out on the hook as opposed to on the hoof and why we cannot develop our own veal industry. That would create a little niche for some farmers who were prepared to fatten the calf to veal. It would eliminate the animal welfare concerns and would create jobs in abattoirs and wherever else. Is there a market out there? Could Bord Bia identify a market for Irish veal? What role could Bord Bia play in the development of that sector?

Our guests touched on China and the little bonus it was to get clearance in January as opposed to later in the year. Do our guests anticipate any further bonus from the potential BSE case in Brazil? Is Bord Bia actively pursuing further areas in China that may not previously have been an option or in which it did not see potential? We are back in China because of BSE. Somebody else reaped the benefits while we were out of the market. Is there potential there for a short-term, if not a long-term, gain, while the Brazilian beef is not accessible to China?