Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 9 November 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Agricultural Schemes: Discussion

Mr. Vincent Roddy:

I just want to make one point relating to the sheep. Deputy Fitzmaurice made a great point. We do need more money there. It is great that we have a sheep welfare programme in place and the Deputy, as well as others, were very helpful in getting that in place the first time. It is great that it is there, but €12 is not great. There is no point in saying it is. I am not going to say that. Look, you will never turn away money. We have to also recognise that there is a problem in sheep at the moment because what we are hearing in factories is there are an awful lot of breeding ewes now being slaughtered out. I would be quite concerned about the confidence in the sector at this point. We are on about breeding ewes that should be there. I will pass over to Mr. Condon and I thank the members for the opportunity.