Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael)
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I thank the delegates for attending and their presentation. I have a number of questions. Is much beef coming in from elsewhere in Europe? We hear about beef coming in from the United Kingdom and Poland for boning in the South. Is that a problem and is it happening a lot?

Much concern has been expressed in recent months about nomadic cattle. We do not have much control over cattle born in the South and finished and slaughtered in the North. Farmers affected in this regard have lost a lot of money in the past six or eight months and the worry is that they will not come back to buy weanlings in the autumn. What can we do to help? I heard recently that cattle from the South could go directly from farms to be slaughtered in the North. There does not seem to be a penalty. Why penalise the farmer in the North because of cattle going directly to be slaughtered?

With regard to the GLAS, there was concern about the 140 kg of organic nitrogen figure. Will the new arrangement under the GLAS mean that all farmers will have equal access to it? I refer to lowly stocked farmers, in addition to highly stocked farmers.

How will a farmer who is not using his or her share of lowland commonage be dealt with? Will he or she have to give up his or her share?

I have a number of other points to make, but perhaps we might deal with them when Mr. Dowling is present.