Ms Maria Dunne:

At the most recent beef forum, the Minister called on all stakeholders to work together to ensure all the different elements of the supply chain are adequately rewarded. We have been working on encouraging beef producer organisations. The legislation is in place for the organisations to be recognised. We have a funding system in place to provide grants, as well as a system of approved facilitators. A prospective producer organisation can avail of a grant and assistance from a facilitator to help set it up. We have had some interest from groups but it is still quite new to the Irish system. We have had several meetings and facilitated several workshops with interested groups. The IFA has planned a seminar next month that will involve speakers from the European Commission and the Department. While it will not be the solution to everything, the producer organisation system should have a role in strengthening the farmers' position in the supply chain.

In the next iteration of the CAP, from the documents I have seen to date, it has a lot more of a central role for these types of organisations.