Ms Mairead McGuinness, MEP:

-----and sentiment for land. It is very deep and I believe it is deepening because so many other things are uncertain. This is a real difficulty in respect of getting the best and most from the land. As it is in private ownership, one must consider initiatives. I believe they must be from member states rather than European because there are different land structures. There are some very useful initiatives in place for long-term leasing and tax concessions are available. Perhaps there is not enough information or awareness about that. I believe the uncertainty concerning the single farm payment is preventing any progress in this area. I am glad the Senator has been speaking to Macra na Feirme and I believe we will see some movements to try to free up the land market. However, it is a very sensitive point, albeit an important one for the future of agriculture.

Senator Noone made the point very well about what can happen and what can be contained within a product.

Even with the best of knowledge, a customer can be misled. Labelling is only as good as the checks we carry out. There must be a sustainable and trusting relationship between farmers, processors and retailers in the food industry. That is how we will secure safe, quality food. We do not have that and until we develop these systems fully we will find problems and we will need the forensic scientists of the FSAI under Alan Reilly to carry out spot checks. We have led the way in this field.

Senator Mulcahy asked about milk quotas. When they go, we must find new markets. There will be a demand for dairy produce and any research and development that finds new product lines will help Irish farmers. Dairy expansion is possible and farmers themselves, as a result of the banking crisis, will be more cautious. It is hard to find money for expansion. They will be more cautious about how they expand, looking at efficiency factors and attracting new people into the dairy sector. Other member states, however, want to hold on to quota. It is a heated debate in the European Parliament still, even though the quotas are set to go in 2015 and Ireland supports that position.

Senator Mullins asked about long-term damage. Truthfully, there was very little reaction to the issue in the European Parliament because horse meat is consumed in Europe. The reaction was one of surprise that we had such good forensic science when it comes to checking and the need to expand that to the rest of the EU. We have shown leadership on this but in a year or so we must debate the issue to see what the response was. We do not have all the information from the source of the horse meat and we do not know why and how it got into a beefburger.