Dr. Frank O'Mara:

The Senator asked whether we are being held back. I would say "Yes." Not only Teagasc, but also Irish agriculture is being held back. I say that as a scientist and through the lens of having a tool or technique that could advance things. With due regard to the legislators and regulators, they may have to take account of issues such as those raised by Deputy Carthy, including the public's attitude to things and so on. The scientist's view is sometimes a bit narrow with regard to some things. Sentiment can often be very powerful and also has to be factored in. However, specifically from a scientific point of view, if we had access to this technique, we believe we could do better breeding. We breed three field crops in Ireland: potatoes, clover and grass. We do not breed wheat, barley or other cereals in Ireland. While we do have access to this technique, if we could use it in our breeding programmes, we feel we could improve those programmes and develop better varieties of grass, clover and potatoes for Irish farmers. Wheat, barley and oats are generally bred in other European countries because our market is not big enough to support a breed programme. If those countries had access to this technique, they would be breeding better varieties for us and we could feed into them the types of traits we would like to see enhanced in the crops they breed. I will hand over to either of the experts here to talk to the Senator a little bit more.