Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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This was a really impressive presentation. Mr. Kennedy mentioned the words measuring and data and getting all this information together about carbon. I mentioned this with the previous contribution we had. Do we need to put an agency together so we can gather all that information in one place? As Mr. Kennedy said, everyone can gather it from industry to farmer. What if we were to look at that agency? Look at what the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, did for the dairy industry. It is now moving on to the beef industry. It gathered a huge amount of data and changed how we approach the industry going forward. It even brought in its own mechanism of measuring.

Is there a space at some level where we need to look at that for the entire ethos of our soils to ask what are and are not our peat soils, what are the pH levels in these soils, what are the phosphorous and potassium levels all the way down to grass measuring and where that ties in? If that was to happen, what does Mr. Kennedy think the actual economic benefit would be for the industry, the environment and society itself?