Mr. Tom Moran:

One of the targets in the 2020 strategy is a 50% increase in milk production. It is an obvious one because quotas will end and there had been repressed capacity for years. The question is whether that will happen at the expense of another sector. It could, but it would not be fully at the expense of another sector. It will come to down to individual actors in the sectors making their own decisions at that stage. They will be free to produce milk, beef, sheep or whatever. The aim of the Department is to maximise the possibilities, to ensure there are markets and to make sure possibilities for smart, green growth - to cite the three words that are used - are open to producers. We will then use whatever supports and systems we have to help that, including pillar 2-type schemes under a new CAP. For example, we are using the TAM scheme, under pillar 2, to increase the output of milk, its storability and the ability of producers to increase and develop their output. We also are funding areas identified under the beef activation group within the 2020 process in which there are gaps in beef production with regard to on-farm profitability, better breeding and improved use of information. The suckler cow scheme is a case in point. A key tenet of this was to pass on breeding information in order that the ICBF, through its structure, could make available the best bulls for breeding. What I am saying, probably in a roundabout way, is that we are not determining which sector grows or does not grow; on the contrary, we are asking where is the potential and which are the areas that need to be developed in our entire agri-sector, and then we want to incentivise them towards development.

Deputy Ó Cuív was right in what he said. When ewe premiums were being paid, ewe numbers rocketed; I think they increased to around 7 million. The number decreased as soon as there was no longer a subsidy. That was a logical response to a decoupled mechanism, but now they are increasing again. The reason the number is increasing and there is increased confidence in the sector is not the existence of a subsidy but the perception that there is a market for the product, which there is, and there will continue to be one. One of the fundamental points under the 2020 strategy is the underlying increased demand for food. We are constantly saying that food demand throughout the world will increase. The demand for meat in Europe will increase. We have capacity in this area and that is why we want to do this.