Mr. Angus Woods:

The questions from and comments of the members present closely reflect the questions from and comments of members of the IFA on a weekly and often nightly basis as I travel the country to attend meetings. The concerns expressed are well known and have been well voiced. We are here because of the report we commissioned and the questions are being widely asked. As it was very important to put some structure in place, we hired the best person available to put the report together and deliver it. She did an excellent job, as anyone to whom I have spoken and who has read the report in full agrees.

A broad range of questions and issues arise continually. The issues related to dairy conversion arise on a regular basis and it was pointed out at this committee that not all farms were suitable for it. Farm type, farm land and farm structure are often different. I argue that much of the suckler cow sector is operating on some of the toughest land in the country, but it is doing a fantastic job in converting grass into edible protein for humans on tough land which is not suitable for tillage or dairy production. It is often said our dairy industry is ranked at No. 1 and our beef industry at No. 5 in dealing with climate change. However, the beef industry is operating on the tougher land and pretty good at what it does. Deputy Penrose spoke about the beef genomics and data programme and we see that the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation is now able to include greenhouse gas and climate change figures with it. The beef sector is now in a position to make those strong, coherent arguments and better able to defend our position. Climate change will be an important issue.

The promotion of the quality suckler cow herd is key.

We have put significant effort into it and believe there is room to make progress in that space. I am not saying it will be easy, but there is room to make progress and farmers who are producing quality suckler cow bred animals deserve to be rewarded correctly for it. On numerous occasions the meat industry has openly stated part of its key branding image is based on green, quality suckler cow herds. When one walks into a meat processing facility and looks at the picture on the wall behind the desk, it will be of a quality suckler cow herd or the progeny of the suckler cow herd which is being used to promote Irish beef. That is a positive, but we would like to see farmers being rewarded for it. It is something on which we are working and there is room to improve.

I refer to the factories which are taking €200 per cow. We had an issue here last week with factories that had been found to be illegally trimming carcasses. One of the key problems in the sector is a lack of transparency, which builds a lack of trust between the parties involved because if there is no transparency, there is no trust. When it comes to transparency, we have not been found wanting. During previous takeovers of meat factories we put a lot of time and effort into having reports commissioned on the structures in place within the beef industry and how it worked. Therefore, we have been playing our part in increasing transparency. It is a suitable area for the joint Oireachtas committee to become involved in. Senator Mulherin referenced a report from Iowa State University on the percentage farmers were getting; it was perhaps 43% or 45%.