Mr. Larry Murrin:

On the questions put to me, and with respect to my colleague Mr. O'Toole, the paper is arriving at me, as chairman designate, by the hundredweight. I will choose the old measurement for that particular description, if I may. It will take me quite a bit of time to get up to speed. They are not charging me for it. That is important to know.

The Deputy has touched on a couple of areas. Bord Bia's approach to developing and delivering quality assurance schemes democratically is critical. If Origin Green taught us one thing all those years ago as we laid the foundation stone, it was that we had to be able to prove what we were talking about. The development of the Bord Bia quality assurance schemes since the inception of Origin Green, although schemes existed prior to it, reflects that need. Our objective is to be as transparent as possible with consumers right around the world, but especially in Europe, where we have 500 million fairly willing consumers. We have learned how to sell Irish food to them and ultimately our objective is to sell more. That does not mean reducing transparency or having derogations from transparency regarding how or the scale at which an animal might be produced. That is vital.

The Deputy touched on the policy aspect. That is not formulated by Bord Bia; how those things are formed and created is a Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine issue. Bord Bia’s job then is to implement the quality assurance schemes and Origin Green as democratically as it can.