Mr. John Murphy:

It is tied to climate. If the animal spends less time on the planet, there will be fewer emissions. It is a big one in the MACC. All the data is already there. We have a massive database from ICBF of all the livestock and all the factories. Everybody is recording the movement of all these animals through their lifetime. When they go to mart, they are weighed and it goes into the system. When they go to the factory for slaughter, it is in the system. We have genetics as well, which the boys in Teagasc talked about. There is a big case to be made for some sort of funded initiative to get farmers to concentrate more on the first 12 to 14 months of the animal's life. For a while, pre the booming prices for beef, it was felt that the people rearing those calves needed financial support to make ends meet in the context of their businesses. Of course, the price of beef has now circumvented that a bit in the short term, but that might be short-lived and some of it might revert. In the longer term, if we are to expedite this a bit faster, we suggest that Government funding will be needed.

The obvious one with feed additives is we need some sort of mechanism to fund it to inspire us to do it. We also need the technology to come on another bit. The slurry one is probably there; it is just to try to implement it at farm level and incentivise farmers. It must be remembered we are asking fellas to spend maybe €2,000 or €3,000 on an average farm. The first question they will ask is what that is for. If we say it will reduce their carbon footprint, they will ask what that will that do for them. We could say, "We do not know. It will give you a licence to keep farming" or "We will take away two of your cows if you do not do it". We have to incentivise; we cannot coerce. If we do not incentivise, how will we get it across the line?

In fairness to the co-ops, they have sustainability programmes and they make a modest effort, but the reality is it is still the same money. They are just pinning it to you at a slightly different level. We have proven technology for feeding additives in indoor systems. We have a large number of feedlots in the country. There is a good school of thought that maybe feedlots should be incentivised to use the additive for the last two months of the animal's life, which would lead to a reduction. The point Ms O'Sullivan made about getting it into the inventory is really important for us. If we do not get it into the inventory, we do not get a credit with it and we do not get the explanation.

I will ask for one other thing. In general, there has been a lot of vilifying of farming over the past number of years, since this climate debate started back in 2019, 2020 and 2021, including talk of the national herd. We got a lot of bad press. Sometimes, we get a lot of bad press in respect of nitrates in water and the issue of pollution. In our opinion, some of it is a bit unfair. We do not ever deny that there are issues. We face up to the issues, but we need a fairer hand. A more balanced approach to the reporting or commentary on it would be of help. All the members can help on that.