Mr. Dale Crammond:

Innovation is key in every industry, and no more so than in agriculture. We have the meat technology centre based in Teagasc in Ashtown. It is funded significantly by Enterprise Ireland and members, the processors, also make contributions.

It looks at a range of issues. It is in its second phase at the moment so it could be looking at meat-eating quality genetics, the factory of the future, how automation could help in processing and helping that lean processing model. That innovation is critical. On the water quality side, who knows? Things are constantly changing. New ideas will come through at a factory level, for example, on how water is cleaned and released into water course, etc. It absolutely has to be a part of the discussion also.