Mr. Cormac Healy:

If there is a persistent issue, yes. The monitoring of Origin Green would be acting before that anyway.

Those who do not make an effort or are constantly in violation of environmental requirements should be excluded from Origin Green. However, it is also important to note that things can go wrong in a facility licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency. One-off events can occur and must be addressed, but they do not mean the company in question is not committed to the Origin Green programme.

Deputy Jackie Cahill raised specific issues about steer beef production. We are not in favour of moving to young bulls and are not necessarily moving in that direction. Steer and heifer beef production has been the unique selling point of Irish beef and that will continue to the case. Nevertheless, it is possible to produce steer beef at much younger ages than is the case. Part of the challenge facing us in making progress in dealing with climate change and reducing the level of greenhouse gas emissions will be to improve the uptake of the production systems Teagasc is demonstrating on the demonstration farms to which the Chairman referred. We cannot walk away from this issue without a fight. There are ways to produce off-grass at a younger age that would have an impact in reducing the carbon footprint. That is the bottom line and if we can work to that end, we will have done something to improve our position.

On Deputy Charlie McConalogue's question about the future structure and design of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, I am sure the farm organisations have much more definitive views on the issue that we do. If we were to express a view, we would like the CAP to be channelled towards schemes that provide support for farmers such as, for example, the beef data and genomics programme. I understand a significant amount of funding provided under the scheme comes from national sources. Not only do the schemes provide direct support but they are also delivering progress. The beef data and genomics programme, for example, has been in place for only three years or thereabouts, during which time calving intervals have declined by 12 days. In addition, the number of calves in the suckler cow herd has increased from 79 per 100 to 85 per 100. That figure needs to increase to 95 per 100, the ratio in the dairy sector. Progress is being made under the schemes and the CAP could help in that regard. In that context, wider budgetary issues arise, but we do not need to discuss them in detail today.

Senator Paul Daly referred to the discussion taking place between the various sectors involved. There is no benefit to agriculture or the food industry if one sector plays off or tries to outdo another. One of the interesting points, to which Mr. Cleary alluded, is that Food Wise 2025 included a specific recommendation, if that is not too strong a word to use, that the pig and grain sectors dovetail more on account of the land available for slurry, as well as for grain. In the poultry sector Manor Farm is taking some new initiatives, including building new housing facilities on tillage farms. That area needs to be examined further.

Senator Paul Daly also referred to a silver bullet, but there is none. If he were to push us on what we would like to see included, we need, first, to ensure our base is right, by which I mean the point from which we measure ourselves. That brings me back to the issue of soil sequestration of Irish grassland. We need to get this right. Is it being accounted for appropriately in the various figures that have been used? We must also ask how we can enhance soil sequestration. This can be done through programmes such as the beef data and genomics programme as it uses breeding and the best of science to try to improve the picture.

I wished to make a point about demonstration farms, but I cannot recall the question I was asked.

There are a number of such farms. The one to which Deputy Pringle referred focuses on how best to get beef from the dairy herd given the expansion in the dairy herd. There is a demonstration farm in the west and Dawn Meats has one focused on suckler beef production, on which it is working jointly with McDonalds and Teagasc. Again, it is trying to do this in real farm conditions as opposed to a laboratory or research farm conditions. These farms must stand on their own two feet. The one members visited last year was a Kepak farm. It is a commercial operation that is trying out the best things in animal health and different production systems. This type of farm is important as we must constantly push to identify what are the best and most efficient production systems.

Deputy Cahill indicated we must face up to climate change. We must also stand up and fight to some extent because agriculture is in the spotlight in terms of climate change and has a role to play in that regard. I understand that, with the exception of New Zealand, Ireland's agriculture sector accounts for the highest percentage of national greenhouse gas emissions. The reason is that we do not have dirty industries such as mining and heavy manufacturing plants. We need to be clear that we must not place an excessive emphasis on agriculture and that we are efficient. I accept that we must also make up more ground. Unfortunately, these are biological processes and we cannot re-engineer cattle. While we can breed and improve, progress is incremental. A significant amount of work is being done, although we still have some way to go.