Mr. Joe Healy:

While the forum might be a good idea, and I would have no issues with it, it would want to be seen to achieve more than the beef forum, for example. A well-run forum can achieve a lot, as opposed to a forum that becomes a political tick-box exercise.

Regarding the comment to which Deputy Bríd Smith referred about there being no contradiction, we have shown that we have increased output by 40% and actually kept a flatline on the emissions going back to 1990. People might think that the dairy and beef sector is not paying its way back in respect of debt and emissions. Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I again highlight that farming is one of the best performers in the country when it comes to repaying debt. The farmers will just do it. They will pay back their debt no matter what. What is crucial, though, and we can never move away from it, is that there is a growing global demand for dairy and beef protein. I keep repeating this.

It is not the Irish Farmers' Association that is saying it. It is the European Commission Joint Research Centre that says Ireland is the most carbon-efficient producer of dairy products. That is the simple truth. Those are the facts. We can deal with facts or we can deal with emotion. We like to deal in facts.