Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

A couple of things spring to mind. What Senator Brady said is quite correct. At the end of the day, farming is a long-term commitment for anyone who goes into it. What is put in place to support them, particularly if we are to go down the route of ensuring that the environment is protected and maintained, if we are asking them to do things in a particular way, has to be funded adequately and properly. The cut to the CAP budget is an example of the problem. Mercosur is another example of the problem. We see all these contradictions.

We have a huge problem where we are importing so many of our proteins from other places around the world, which brings dangers with it. Many of the problems that we have had, in various sectors, whether hornets come in or whatever else, such as the beetle in the forestry sector, come from imported produce, particularly from agricultural bases in other climates. In this country, we have a clean environmental standard. We need to look at whether there is an opportunity for Irish farmers to produce more of their own proteins. I will talk about this later in the context of the tillage sector, whose represenstatives are to appear before the committee, because it is one of the options for this. We need to come to a situation where we recognise that if Irish agriculture is going to be the top-shelf product that it has been up to now and if we are going to maintain it in that place and get a good price for our product internationally, we have to be able to make sure that it is sustainable long term. The farmer may have to look at alternatives to do that and, in some cases, a farmer who has been cattle farming up until now may have opportunities in other places that will be better for the environment than cattle farming. If that is the case, that has to be incentivised properly.

The big picture here is that the future of Irish agriculture, in my view, is positive. The Industrial Revolution changed the world. It changed agricultural more than anything else. So much is done by automation nowadays that what has happened is unbelievable, such as robots milking cows. It has changed everything. There are opportunities. Some of the innovations the witnesses talked about from a climate change perspective and mitigation, whether it includes feeds or whatever, are science that is only starting. Ten years ago, we were only thinking about looking at it. In another ten years, that will have come on a journey to be much better than it is now. If we can have the confidence to invest now, we can reap the benefits in the future, but that will require everyone being on board. Farmers in particular will have to be on board and will have to see that there will be other opportunities for them and that those opportunities will be ones that can pay well.

I would like to get the witnesses' comments on those points.