Mr. Eoin Donnelly:

A very specific question was asked about blockchain. It is easier for me to give an answer to that if I go back to the pharmaceutical industry. Blockchain is the equivalent of serialisation in the pharmaceutical industry where it prevents fraud or counterfeit drugs from being introduced into the market. If one uses what mother nature has given us, which is DNA, in blockchain, then we can effectively do DNA tests. In the horsemeat scandal, for example, DNA tests were shown to prove there was horsemeat in beef packs. Blockchain or a serialisation for beef - a DNA profiling of the beef herd - would prevent counterfeit beef from being introduced. Consider the 7,000 cows that came in from the UK last year that were processed in Irish meat plants. They supposedly would not have a quality assured Irish origin Bord Bia logo, but if we were to be absolutely certain that they were not, we would have to do a DNA test on our trays of meat to indicate the origin of that beef. Using DNA to establish counterfeit beef would give the ultimate traceability. The meat industry in Switzerland does DNA testing en masseof its beef. The Swiss beef market is considerable. I understand that the primary producers are paid well in excess of €5 or €6 per kilo. They eliminate counterfeit beef by using DNA testing, which is the equivalent of blockchain.

On lairage and exports, I asked a specific question on lairage of a member of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine at a meeting. I asked him why the Government had not taken ownership of the lairage situation in Cherbourg. In my opinion and certainly in the opinion of the beef men, the €750 million that was handed back to the exporters should have been used for a strategic asset for the State to support live exports leaving the State. The Government has abdicated responsibility by giving money back to exporters and leaving it to them to sort out the problem. The expectation that people and industries who are competing in the same export industry would somehow come together to organise themselves to put in a lairage facility in Cherbourg is a fundamentally flawed mindset from the outset. The €750 million would have addressed that issue for the calves in the springtime and for the heavier cattle exports throughout the remainder of the year if the lairage was needed. This is not just a short six-week window. This could be used to facilitate live exports through the year through the land border and right into France.

The Chairman asked about Brexit. Whatever the outcome of Brexit, I am quite certain that the primary producer will suffer the most. In the absence of a Brexit scenario, and even if it was to go away in its entirety, over the past two years we have already seen how difficult Ireland's trading position has been and how we have been pushed down, regardless of whether it is driven by currency. We can do the currency analysis to find out explicitly how much of the effects are driven by currency. Is the currency driving the variance from an effects perspective or how much is driven by purchase price? That is simple maths. If Brexit goes really wrong, although a no-deal is becoming more unlikely to happen, we hope, the primary producer is the most vulnerable person in the supply chain. No matter how badly things go for Brexit, the primary producer is going to come out the worst. Everybody else will preserve their margin as best they can but the primary producer will take the biggest hit.

My colleague Mr. Doyle will address the queries on climate change.