Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the witnesses. The opening statements were very helpful. Could I ask the auditor, Mr. Reynolds, to go through the issues the witnesses have with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine? There is talk of a fair compensation scheme and how that has been set out with the Department. The witnesses mentioned core issues that have not been addressed with the Department. Could the auditor go over what those core issues are, so that we can raise them with the Department representatives when we meet them in the next session? It is important we hear about the nuts and bolts, or about the core issues, of the scheme that are problematic.

I have a question for the farmers. I am a farmer but I have never been on a mink farm. The farmers might go through the processes on the farms. What farm inspections were happening on their farms?

First, I would like to hear from Mr. Reynolds and then maybe the farmers might give me an overview of how the farms works.