Mr. John O'Sullivan:

I will try to get through the answers as quickly as possible.

Having co-operatives is a good idea. The only issue is if there would be a co-operative with control of seaweed, but there are other companies involved also. We are trying to add value. We have a five or a ten year plan. Let us suppose a co-operative sells the product at a given price for the next five years and someone else then comes in and decides to double the price. That is a question to be asked because the new player might have an alternative use and suddenly decide that the co-operative was out of the business. There are pros and cons. Are the co-operatives willing to put money into this industry, to invest money in resources and people who know how the environment should be protected, etc?

Another question was related to Clew Bay and the technology used. I am not saying the use of rake methods is wrong. All I am saying is that they may not be suitable in the area. We examined the issue in the case of Clew Bay and determined they were not suitable. The rest of Connemara and Clare may be perfect for the use of rake methods.

There was a question about having an independent body. I agree totally with the idea of having an independent body, rather than the industry running things on its own. We have seen what has happened in the beef industry, etc. It should not do it. As the chief executive of a processor, I take the view that there is no issue with having an independent body. However, if there were three or four processors, one would very easily figure out which were cowboys and which were genuine operators.