Mr. Jim O'Toole:

We are working very closely with the mushroom and horticulture sector. The decline in output was more to do with a range of issues, including labour, energy and those kinds of production constraint, and the fact that the value increased because of price inflation. There was an increase in value, but there was a marginal drop in output. I do not think it is any single factor. It is a combination of the factors I outlined, that is, labour, energy, consumer demand and the fact that there is dependence on and competition in the UK market. This leads on to the Deputy's question on diversification. We have sector specialists in every sector of the food, drink and horticulture industry and we have a plan for each of them. We work with each of the sectors. We do not put all our bets on one sector and abandon another. We try to work with each of them, because it is about developing the entirety of the Irish food, drink and horticulture sector. We have plans, across the board, to try to maximise all the different sectors.

The Deputy asked about dependence on the UK market. It is our number one market. We exported €5.4 billion worth of exports to the UK last year. It is a huge number, comparable with what we export to continental Europe or international markets. While we had worked and continue to work very closely with the sector, to help it prepare for the difficulties that arose from Brexit, we must recognise the UK is a large population base that has cultural similarity in its food consumption and distribution and it will remain a very important market for the Irish food and drink exporting sector. However, there is a vulnerability in particular sectors, because they are only exporting to the UK. We were working with those companies to help them develop business into continental Europe, or further afield.

While we recognise and support the importance of the UK market, as an ongoing primary market for Irish food and drink, we need to be careful of an overdependency in some sectors, which could lead to problems. That is why we are working with those sectors. We have developed the Netherlands market for a number of consumer food products and we have seen progress in diversification. I will hand over to my colleague, Mr. Murray, with regard to the Deputy's questions about sheep's milk.