Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I do not have that many questions because the opening statements are coming from the same perspective.

I respect both of them. In any business, no matter what one is manufacturing or whatever, one's end customer determines one's product. I understand that to sell the quantities that we need to sell, we need to sell the proper qualities.

The reason this is on the agenda and where it came from is the fact that the sheep sector is under pressure at the moment and an ideal scenario would be if a carcase of 2 kg more could be accepted by Meat Industry Ireland, MII, notwithstanding the reasons it has given that it is not ideal that that would add €15 to the lamb price. That addition would make the difference between some sheep farmers being viable or not at the moment. Based on that, I have a couple of questions, notwithstanding what is in the presentation, which I accept and appreciate.

Let us say the farmer brings the sheep to the factory and he has overshot the runway in that the carcase is heavier than MII desires or that Bord Bia can market. Where is the market for that? MII stated it is not as sellable in the supermarket, for example, because it is heavier and hence the price goes up proportionately, but MII is cutting them and giving a lesser price for it. Does that not equate to it being able to be sold in the supermarket on a pro ratabasis?

While MII desires the lighter lamb, there are heavier lambs out there. When they come to MII, what does it do with them? Where do they go? Is there a market there? Is Bord Bia aware of a market anywhere in the world that could desire or accept a heavier carcase?

Finally, both opening statements highlighted the increase in our export over the past couple of years but the farming end of the lamb trade has never been as bad in the past couple of years. There is no coloration. If we are exporting more which means we have a greater market, why is there such pressure on the price at the farm-gate level?