Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Senator Pippa Hackett):

I can assure the Deputy that we are not forgetting about any of the recommendations in the wool feasibility study. It is of precedence that we get the wool council established, which is what we are endeavouring to do. As I said at the start, however, it is not for the Department to establish it. It has to be industry-led and that was the agreement.

I know full well about the price of wool. I am a sheep farmer myself. Market forces and market demand unfortunately dictate the price of wool and it is, unfortunately, at a terribly low baseline price. The price at the moment really is quite appalling. When it is established, however, the wool council is where we will have the opportunity to explore that and have a collective voice to reach out and seek out the opportunities for wool. The sooner the council is established, the better. I will certainly try to urge the stakeholders to get that established as quickly as possible.

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