Mr. Jim O'Toole:

I will begin by thanking Deputy Flaherty for his kind remarks. I have to disagree strenuously on some of his other comments. I would contend that Bord Bia absolutely has not abandoned sheep promotion and marketing development at all. While the Deputy is aware of the work Bord Bia does around Irish beef, in point of fact we do not promote Irish beef on the domestic market because it has a strong market position and the need is to promote Irish beef overseas. Lamb is important on the Irish market and that is why Bord Bia promotes it strongly. As I mentioned, we are in a situation where protein in general is under pressure and lamb is a relatively expensive protein. It has been impacted by inflationary pressures. That is unfortunately the case. As I also mentioned, younger consumers are inclined to be less loyal to lamb. It is important for Bord Bia to recruit them into the category first of all, and then to try to retain them. Approximately 15% of our output is consumed on the home market and that is why we have an important emphasis on our export marketing. The home market is very important for Bord Bia and we run significant campaigns across all media in peak supply months.