Dr. Ewen Mullins:

That is a very good question. In the study in question, we were linked with an EU consortium in the Netherlands and were using a modelling app from our Dutch partners. We would get a ping on the app five days beforehand indicating if there was going to be a high, medium or low threat of blight. It was very insightful at the time because it allowed us to plan ahead. For example, if the temperature gets beyond 20°C and there is no rain or wind, that is an opportunity not to spread. It is important to point out this was a research project that spanned three years in the field from 2012 to 2015. It was not a commercial crop. Farmers growing potato crops will not take that risk. They will be risk averse because they have invested in their crop. Since that project concluded, we have been developing with Met Éireann a new way to inform farmers on blight risk. We hope to be able to publish and launch that in the next two or three months. It is to give people more confidence about when there is a blight risk. As the Deputy said, the default position is that Met Éireann will advise when there is blight risk but farmers have probably already sprayed once the crop grows up through the soil.