Mr. Edmund Graham:

On expansion in the beef and dairy beef industries, much of it stems from additional cull dairy cows. Traditionally, cow beef was the lowest-price beef available and every other type of beef was a certain percentage above it. Now that there is so much cull cow beef on the market, it must be sold as cheaply as possible to get rid of it, which pulls down the price of everything else. I do not know what can be done about that but if dairy expansion continues and there is an increase in the dairy herd, there will be an increase in cull cows, which will have a knock-on effect. If there is so much cheap beef available, how much better will good beef have to be? I hear that many processors put some of the lower-quality cuts into the better markets now because they are cheap. The retailers, too, are happy to use them and, therefore, why not?

Deputy McConalogue asked about Kepak and Glanbia. To be honest, I am disgusted with what has happened there. It is an insult to beef farmers and suckler farmers, as well as to farmers in general, that they are being offered cash along with a calf to work. Although it must be paid back, they are given a loan. When they say people will be sent out to advise farmers and to help them through what they have to do, do they take them to be completely stupid and to not have enough knowledge to know what to do themselves? It seems false figures were put forward. I attend quite a few marts and seek to buy animals for a job or two. I look for animals above 400 kg at a year old. At those same marts, I watch dairy stock that are two years old but have not reached even 300 kg live weight. Where will all the animals go? People speak about climate change and carbon footprints, but what will be done with these lower-quality animals?

A question was asked about the facilities in Cherbourg. We do not argue that dairy farmers should pay for it but, ultimately, the dairy calf is a by-product of the dairy industry. As far as we are concerned, it is a waste product in many cases and we believe that the dairy industry should be involved in sorting it out. It is not too much to ask, therefore, of some of the co-operatives, or all of them if they wish to come together, to invest a wee bit in it. We understand that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has indicated it would not be right for the Government to invest on foreign soil, but there is no reason the dairy industry could not make some investment in Cherbourg.