Mr. Jim O'Toole:

On the mushroom sector, in particular, we have exports of about €300 million of edible horticulture, the vast majority of which is comprised of mushroom exports. They are dependent on the British market for that. As I mentioned in my statement, energy and labour are constraints on that.

The Senator also mentioned peat. Peat is an ideal growing medium for mushrooms. The volume of peat that is used by the mushroom sector has been decreasing. They are trying to absolutely minimise that and are looking at woodchip and other alternatives. While there is not peat harvesting going on domestically on a commercial scale, some of that peat is being imported. There is a time requirement in transitioning to find a substitute substrate that will perform as well to allow that trade to continue.