Mr. Vincent Roddy:

Senator Daly made a great point and it is something we will have to watch. Clearly, we would hope that would not be the case but I think we will need to monitor the appeal to ensure that is not happening. I hope it will not and, as Mr. Gorman and Mr. Curran said, having a good charter will help to alleviate that.

On the points about the timescales, we have always believed the main issue with appeals is timescales. When we get in there, we are going to make an assumption, whether right or wrong, that it is fair but certainly, the issue has been to get them in. A farmer said to me once - I do not know whether this is true - that the appeals system is designed in order that people will not appeal. He said that is the problem, and that is why we are putting out some of those proposals. They may seem a bit radical but I think we have to at least explore them, and I hear what the Senator is saying about that. If we have a fast appeals system, that will put pressure on the other side. That is always the key element and it is what we have to keep in mind. A faster, more effective appeals system will ensure better compliance on a Department of agriculture inspectors' level. Obviously, we will also have the charter to fall back on.