Mr. Aidan Cotter:

Yes, that is with regard to our quality mark. It is primarily used in the domestic Irish market. I might come back to that.

I wish to clarify the figure of 104% of the European Union price. This relates to the EU 15 countries and it excludes Poland. As I remarked in the paper, Irish steer prices exceeded equivalent young bull prices in France, Germany, Spain and Italy for most of last year. While there is no question that producers need more to make a profit, the performance has been reasonably good by comparison with other market prices in the past year.

Reference was made to an Irish brand. Again, this comes back to whether the United Kingdom market would accept an Irish brand. It is basically a British and Irish brand. There are only two labels used by the multiples at the moment. The consumer pays the same price, as the committee learned in a previous session, whether it is British or Irish. Obviously, if there was a British and Irish brand, it might not necessarily make any difference because it is still the case that half our beef will end up in a market region where prices are 20% lower. I am unsure that suggestion would be a solution.