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

It is clear that issue raises passions in people. I am a sheep farmer. I have farmed with my husband for 25 years. I know full well the challenges with trying to sell wool. I have seen prices dropping off over the past two and a half decades. I concur with all the concerns raised.

Ultimately, the market is just not there. We can jump the gun. We can establish co-operatives and all these things, and we can have our wool presented in a certain way. However, making sure there is a market is the aspect we have to get right. Interest, either domestically or internationally, in using wool is what we have to generate. That is the difficulty.

It is unfair to state that the Government has not done anything. We did what we said we would do. We established the study. We put €100,000 into that. We have put aside €30,000 in seed funding for the council. The council will drive it. We need the industry. We need the stakeholders involved on board with this to establish the best possible outcomes.

As an anecdotal point, although it will not save the world, there is a slight premium for organic wool as compared with non-organic wool at the moment. It is very small. There is a slight shift in terms of the funding.

I would make one finally point on the welfare.

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