Mr. Conor Mulvihill:

I thank members for the invitation to attend. They will have received our submission.

Dairy Industry Ireland represents the primary and secondary dairy manufacturers, including the specialised nutrition sector. I am director and with me is our head of regulatory affairs, Dr. Miriam Ryan. Our current CEO is Mr. Jim Woulfe of Dairygold. We have four team members to represent the entire industrial dairy manufacturing base in Ireland.

The dairy processing industry is a key component of the economy on the island, providing much needed employment spread across rural areas into every parish. The industry processes across 30 sites over 7.5 billion litres of milk which is supplied by 18,000 family farms, many of which are the owners of primary businesses. The industry has an all-island presence. Since the abolition of quotas, we have been driving to be a global leader in the development of a high value, environmentally sustainable dairy industry based on an extensive grass based dairy system. Dairy companies have invested hundreds of millions of euro in recent years to prepare for this opportunity which resulted in us achieving almost €5 billion worth of exports of dairy products, ingredients and nutritionals in 2017. These exports have found their way to over 155 markets worldwide, with international markets beyond the European Union becoming increasingly important. In 2018 these international markets are projected to take over 50% of Irish dairy exports for the first time. Ireland remains in a strong position, with the primary dairies continuing to be 100% Irish owned entities, while the quality of our produce is reflected in the fact that three of the world's major specialised nutrition companies have chosen to base key secondary processing sites in Ireland.

Having gone through that introduction, I will move quickly to discuss what we have come to deal with in terms of an action based approach to sustainability and climate change. To put the seriousness of climate change for the industry into context, I note that the environment and sustainability are the first and second agenda items when our CEOs meet as a board. To put it in further context, Brexit is the third item. Dairy Industry Ireland has long been working with Bord Bia at processor level to drive the completion of the sustainable dairy quality assurance scheme, SDAS. Its members have supported this process wholeheartedly and funded the audit process on behalf of their farmer members. This has been very arduous but worthwhile and as of now the finish line is in sight for phase 1, with nearly all 18,00 dairy farmers included. The industry recognises that resting on its laurels is not enough, as Mr. Matt Crowe of the EPA has pointed out, and that more must be done to support the SDAS in driving best practice at dairy farm level. In that vein, the dairy industry established Dairy Sustainability Ireland in 2016 to provide industry leadership on the issue of sustainable dairy practices that would help the climate change agenda in a positive manner.

Dairy Sustainability Ireland is a proactive, industry-led, whole-of-sector and whole-of-government partnership which is working to develop and implement new approaches to dairy farm sustainability at both economic and environmental levels. A Dairy Sustainability Ireland board has been established containing all 14 members of Ireland's dairy processing industry, including the specialised nutrition companies. They were joined by all of the main dairy associated farm organisations, including the IFA, the ICMSA, ICOS and Macra na Feirme. I acknowledge that the ICSA is not represented here but we focused on the dairy sector. These groups were then augmented by the key agencies of the State, including the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government on foot of its responsibility for water services, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bord Bia, Teagasc, the representatives of which will make their own presentation, and the local authorities. The board meets quarterly, with the most recent meeting having taken place in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on 1 February. The next meeting will take place in the Customs House on 2 May. Specific task forces are constantly meeting to develop and implement the strategy agreed to by the board at company and farm level. There is an organogram in the material circulated to the committee for the information of members.

What we seek to engender from the Government through the industry down to farms is a rationale for positive climate change measures. It is clear that the discourse on climate change and sustainability has caused a disconnect between stakeholders, as we have seen today in some of the exchanges. Negative messaging and forced environmental and climate change actions have increasingly been seen pejoratively by the majority of farmers and some key companies. As such, the project set about providing real solutions to show that positive environmental outcomes for all, growth in farmer incomes and overall company sustainability were not mutually exclusive of each other and could work with each other to create win-wins. At the start of 2017 the board set out a plan of action. The chart included in the document shows the three goals we identified. We said we had to start from the start on climate change. As such, water quality and soil issues were identified as the first key goals before moving on to anything else. I am delighted to see representatives of Teagasc here. Teagasc is a key partner in the target to drive nutrient management and a soil fertility improvement plan which builds very much on the science developed by Professor Frank O'Mara and his colleagues over many years. We are also promoting best practice in farmyard waste management, in particular water. The initiative is being implemented, first, through the six biggest Dairy Industry Ireland companies and 30 pilot scheme farms. Members should have received in their packs a copy of the handbook which has been circulated to each company and farm. The handbooks have been localised for individual companies. The idea is that they will go to all 18,000 farmers over the course of 2018.

Dairy Sustainability Ireland had a public launch at the end of 2016. We did detailed technical work, with other stakeholders, to build trust and consult on the science, etc. That occurred over a year-long period and the initiative was then publicly launched in October 2017 by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, and our chairman, Mr. Jim Woulfe. The key issue was the possible loss of our nitrates derogation at the end of last year, as the Chairman of the committee is well aware. The project evolved very quickly. With Ireland needing to react to challenges under the water directives and the possible loss of the nitrates derogation, it was decided at the end of 2017 that the components of Dairy Sustainability Ireland would fully support the Government's establishment of the agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme, ASSAP, in tandem with the Departments of Housing, Planning and Local Government and Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Our chairman, Mr. Jim Woulfe, launched the initiative with the relevant Ministers, Deputies Eoghan Murphy and Michael Creed, in Government Buildings in December 2017.