Mr. Matt Dempsey:

The fundamental issue is the change in EU policy away from a policy that facilitated the production of grain within Europe. If world market prices were low, a levy was applied to imports into the community. If they were high, they came in more freely. The removal of that kind of protective food security regime has clearly been a serious mistake that has happened over the past 20 years.

I respectfully suggest that this committee, given how representative it is, should propose to the EU that a significant look at the appropriateness of its tillage regime for modern conditions be undertaken and the original concept of a food secure Europe, insulated to some extent from the huge swings that occur in world market prices, be re-examined.

The other major issue that has happened is that in our youth Russia was by far the main importer. Now, with the privatisation and new technology across all of the eastern Europe and central Asia, Europe has become the major wheat exporter of the world. This has totally upset the balance. We do not have same constraints on the use of chemicals. There are very cheap fertilisers and enormous scale. We are not saying that Europe and Ireland are not competitive; what we are saying is that we are prevented from being competitive by the discriminatory regulations that apply against European farmers, which at the same time allow unrestricted access of grain imports from all over the world into the European market.