Mr. Denis Drennan:

On the issue of derogation and support across Europe, there was a level of animosity a couple of years ago when Ireland was driving on and the shackles came off with the milk quota. We were increasing production by a huge amount and were a large exporter. That caused a problem but it has died down completely and we reduced our milk production last year by between 4% and 5%. Across Europe, supply is falling off a cliff at the moment because of the cost of production and the rules and regulations. Much of the frustration and protests come from the amount of extra rules and regulations coming in. There is not really an issue with other countries supporting us, if the Commission recommends something and we make a good enough case for it. When you travel across Europe and meet European counterparts, they understand we have a unique situation in Ireland in that we can grow grass almost 365 days per year and do not have huge reliance on growing maize or cereal crops to feed our animals. We grow 95% of what our cows eat in the form of grass or grass silage. Other farmers in Europe get that we have a unique system, climate and ability to feed our cows so there is not huge animosity out there. If we go with a strong enough case and the Commission recommends it, it will get across the line and be voted through. The main thing is we do not put caveats and conditions on it that are not realistic or fair to Irish farmers and that will penalise them.

On anaerobic digestion, I think the Senator might be mixing up anaerobic digestion and separators. If you put 10,000 gallons of slurry in an aerobic digester, it will not be empty by 1 January. It will be filled up with slurry. It is a continuous cycle. In most cases, if you draw in 10,000 gallons of slurry, you have to draw out 10,000 gallons of digestate. The separator I think the Senator is referring to would separate the solids from the liquid and can be stored more easily. We should be looking at that option. We are a bit down the line on that but it could be an issue. Anaerobic digesters are seen as the halo that will solve all these problems but once you draw in slurry you have to have somewhere to draw out digestate so they are not the sliver bullet, unfortunately.