Mr. Lorcan Bourke:

I will talk about import substitution because we have not given the committee the backdrop to the scale of production we have in Ireland compared what happens abroad. Probably 20 or 25 years ago, we had a scenario that the competition used be local, parish or county. It used be Dublin, Cork or Wexford. With the sophistication and spread of the supermarkets and supermarket chains, the European Single Market and improvements in logistics, and the big scale of operations in the UK, Holland, Spain and all over Europe, you can go to where the sun is the best, the soil is the best, there is plenty of water, labour is relatively cheap and produce on such a scale that the unit cost compared with that of the grower in north Dublin, Wexford or wherever is such that he or she just cannot compete. Increasingly, this is what is happening, and has happened, with different crops. We have had a reduction in numbers. Scallions would be an interesting example. Ten years ago, there were ten scallion producers. There is one now. These are the big dynamics that are happening. It used to be growers competing with growers. Now it is supply chains competing with supply chains. That supply chain might start in Morocco for a couple of months. It moves into Spain. It might move up to the Netherlands or the UK. It is all the same companies and they are able to deal big. There is a supply-chain scenario that has evolved over time and that is why we have seen that reduction in the number of growers. It is not an individual grower anymore. It is a supply chain that is competing.

On the positive side, maybe the time for Irish produce has come around with the increase in fuel prices, etc., and people looking more towards eco-solutions and where their produce comes from. Ultimately, and I have done research over years, price is a big persuader of consumers. Whether it is Bord Bia quality mark or origin of this or sustainability of that, consumers can be led by price and whoever is in charge of the price is a big controller.