Mr. Paul Moore:

May I comment on food security from the point of view of a tillage farmer? The area of tillage in Ireland has declined by 40% since the 1980s. We now import close to 1 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables every year, much of which we could grow here. It is not about bringing dairy down but is about bringing other types of farming up to make them viable. One of the incidental or unintended consequences of the nitrates derogation reduction was that land was taken out of tillage and put into grass because dairy farmers needed more land. That has done nothing for food security and we in this country are not food secure because we export vast amounts of dairy produce and beef but import an awful lot of tillage. Food security is not discussed often enough in this country.