Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Every weekend I go home and it is like a "Where in the World?" quiz. Peru was mentioned and I do not know where else was mentioned. If she is watching now, she will know I do not be listening to her but she can get reassurance from the fact that at least Mr. Rushe listened to her last night. I want to ask about the price and how it can be more competitive coming from Peru because Peru was mentioned. I cannot believe an onion can shipped from Peru, put on a shelf in Tullamore and that an Irish grower could not compete with it. Ms Brennan said that retailers are looking for Irish growers. I apologise because I was caught up in a lot of votes in the Seanad. I was whipped and on the schedule so I could not get out of them or avail of a pairing arrangement. I hate asking questions in the committee having come in late when somebody else might have asked the same questions. On that, when I was a young lad at home my father would chance his arm at anything if there was a chance of a few bob in it. He did a bit of mixed faring and everything and he took a contract one time with Erin Foods to grow Brussels Sprouts. It was a one-year contract and it was labour-intensive. Not only do I remember it but I will never forget it. I mention that type of model or system if you have retailers out there looking for Irish onions. The IFA is talking about solutions and we need to look for solutions here because we have hashed out all the problems. We all know the problems and I am not going back down over that track. Is there any potential solution to pull those heads and Departments together, including Bord Bia, and could funding be provided to have growers groups or producers groups? There is no Erin Foods anymore but there could be something along the lines of that model. It was going around knocking on the doors of farmers to sow or plant a crop. It had an adviser who came out and kept an eye on how the crop was growing, what treatment it needed, when was the right time to harvest it and what fertiliser was needed. There was a more mixed farming model at that time and it would probably not suit someone to get into horticulture now, even if you had the model in place. Surely there are still tillage farmers out there who could have it as a rotation crop. Is there any merit in a model like that, especially if one of the Irish retailers is looking for an Irish onion and it is not there?