Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is another element to that. It relates to something that Deputy Eamon Ryan mentioned earlier or which certainly was mentioned at our meeting in Newbridge. I am referring to Origin Green and the high level of importation of feed. We need to reach the point of depending less on imported proteins and using more of the meals and grains produced in Ireland.

This brings me to a connected point. We are having a hot summer, which will lead to depleted grain yields in many places. That will have an impact on concentrates next winter and the options that will be available to farmers. The main point in this discussion, and one that needs to go out in a message, is that farmers need to take more responsibility for trying to manage their own grassland better to get more fodder from it.

Regarding the feed that farmers have to buy in, there must be public policy measures to ensure that as much of that feed as possible is grown in Ireland.

If Origin Green should mean anything, it should mean that not only the food produced in Ireland but the feed and inputs going into that food are Irish. That will help to ensure nobody can attack the product we produce in Ireland, as has happened in the past.

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