Mr. Conor Mulvihill:

I am a glass half full person. I really think we have a fabulous dairy industry in Ireland. Its fundamentals in economics and sustainability are fantastic and we are caught in this uncertainty - I use that word over and over again - that is absolutely killing us and causing the industry to haemorrhage young farmers and confidence at the moment. We have the opportunity, because of the blessing of our historic dairy culture and climate, to be a structural exporter to Europe, including to such countries as France and Germany, if we get it right. That means delivering on our water quality and greenhouse gas, GHG, commitments. We will have the fundamentals right, if we get over this hump. We have navigated this before. We got through Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war and the energy crisis, and the dairy industry came out of each and every one stronger.

We have a group of policies and it is manifest in appendix C, that Europe has taken a decision - the Cathaoirleach also addressed it with respect to his visit to Europe - to structurally decline dairy production over the course of this. It is manifest in the graphs. Ireland, which is the jewel in the crown of Europe's dairy economy, as it is a grass-fed, outdoor, family-farm-based economy, is now haemorrhaging milk. I still maintain that the fundamentals are hugely positive. We have issues, but we are addressing them. The industry is here together, marching in lockstep. It is not very often the dairy and meat industries are seen together. We are marching in lockstep because we can see that we are dependent on one another, on the tillage industry, on the good organics industry and so on. This has been portrayed in some quarters as a dairy issue. It is not. It is not even an agriculture issue. This is an Ireland Inc. issue. If we get over this, if we take the canaries in the mines that are falling off and get it right, we can come back. We might not be growing. It is quite clear we are probably not in the post quota era we have been in for many years. However, we do not want to be in a situation where rural Ireland is haemorrhaging billions of euro. That is what is manifesting. We are pleading with the committee to help us to address it and to make our water quality what we all want it to be.

Water quality in Ireland is third in the EU. That is often forgotten. We do not have rivers of lava. We have the third best nitrates levels. There are different parameters. It is apples and oranges as this committee has heard everything about. However, Irish water quality is very good. We want it to improve and for it to be number one. If we can do that, we can keep the dairy renaissance that has kept a social and economic renaissance over rural Ireland for the past decade. We can be key exporters to the economies the Senator spoke about, such as France, and give them base product. That would be a great story for us all to tell.