Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad Deputy Bríd Smith raised the issue of agriculture. In today's Irish Independentfarming supplement, this issue came up in the context of Brexit. An article pointed out that Brexit will force farmers to look at competition issues and how efficient beef production is in this country compared to other European and international players.

Colleagues in the House from rural Ireland will know that the vast majority of suckler farmers are using the payments they get from Brussels to subsidise farming practices. That is unsustainable in the long term. There are ways whereby we can make agriculture more efficient from a carbon perspective, as well as ways to ensure that farmers get a far greater return for the product they are producing. In fairness, the beef data and genomics programme is an innovative step to start that process. It is a difficult process. We are trying to shoehorn into the beef sector technology advances that have taken 25 years to develop in the dairy sector. It is a step in the right direction. It is seen internationally as an innovative measure to deal with the real and practical problems. We need to come up with solutions across the board. These include using broadband to deal with our transport issues, as well as using other novel initiatives. We should not always be replicating what is going on elsewhere. There are major opportunities in the context of the oceans and our natural resources.

See this speech in context