Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent)
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Almost everything has been said but I have a slightly left of field question, if I can be excused because I am sure it is way off the mark. I have been listening today. The quota has gone and we have too much supply and are now deep in commodity land globally. It is very ugly because the commodity price has dropped. I hate to hear remarks to the effect that we will get out of this and that we will be back in six years' time because such remarks are depressing if I am a dairy farmer because I know I will live my life in these awful times.

In the context of the pathways for growth and the wonderful people who come from Harvard every year and speak to us about a strategy for Irish agriculture, I am very proud of Ireland, and our dairy sector is so much better than that of anybody else. Look at Kerrygold relative to the size of Ireland. Kerrygold is the second biggest selling butter in the United States. I am aware that Bailey's Irish Cream is owned by Diageo. I am talking about an overall strategy for Ireland. We are the 12-month, grass-fed beef and dairy country. We produce the creamiest milk in the world. Is there a strategy that takes us out of commodity land into more added value, or is it that we just produce too much of it?

I asked a small dairy producer whether he had thought of kefir and he asked me what on earth it was. It is a stronger version of yoghurt and is produced by a Russian family in the United States. It will be worth €500 million by next year and was started only a few years ago. It is an opportunity. To me, there are always opportunities for specialist products.

It would take us out of this awful commodity world where things get better and things get worse again and the people whom the witnesses represent wonder if they will ever win the game and get out of the seesaw of a life in which they very obviously live.