Mr. Mike Magan:

I hope my colleagues have answered the questions asked adequately. I would like to deal with the Chairman's questions. On the question of other diseases, we have finite resources so our capacity to deal with other diseases is limited. However, we give general and targeted advice on areas such as parasite control and calf rearing and care. We have found there has been a positive uptake of such projects. With regard to Food Harvest 2020, the Chairman is correct to say that we need to tackle these issues before we have substantial growth in the national herd. This is a very good time to tackle some of the issues and when it comes to expanding the national herd, this will have a positive impact, particularly if we have tackled issues like Johne's disease, BVD, mastitis and, hopefully, IBR.

As mentioned, behavioural change is slow. We are working on the science of behavioural change, an interesting dimension. This is not something one normally hears farmers discuss, but it is a fascinating area. With regard to the Chairman's comment on antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance, this is very pertinent, because as we lower the level of disease in the national herd, we will lower the use of antibiotics and put the industry in a better place. Hopefully, we can tackle the issue of antimicrobial resistance issue as it is an important issue for the human population. This will be a positive outcome of what we are doing.

On the question of resources, we were set up on the basis that we would be 50% funded by the State after we raised the other 50% from the industry. The industry has been good up to now and I hope it will continue to be so. However, we operate under a delicate funding model. Hopefully, we will have an in-depth discussion at some stage in the future about how we can continue to fund what is an important, national group that has huge implications for the national herd. Whether we can continue with the current funding model deserves some debate. Perhaps that is not an issue for today, but it is one that should be raised at some stage.