Mr. Bobby Roche:

On Deputy Carthy's question on raw materials, Ireland has a limited availability of raw materials for the industry we have. We would love to see a situation in which there was a lot more native grain available to us, and if it did become available, we would use it. However, we have to import corn and corn by-products. We have to import different sources of proteins as well as products such as molasses. This enables us to get a cost effective animal feed for the farmer. Ireland being an island restricts our access to and the availability of raw materials, and this is something that we have to live with.

One of the issues that was mentioned in the previous session was that of ports. It will be interesting to see the development of the situation with raw materials that originate in the UK that are landed in either Derry or Belfast. That feed is designated for mills in the South, so the question is if tariffs will be put on that because it is landed in Northern Ireland, even though it will be processed in the Republic. We also need to see what will happen with risk management systems being developed for ports.