They might learn something. If they stay quiet they might learn the complex issue.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach.
Sentiment score: 0.36
The Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, and I cut our teeth in student politics 35 years ago. I learned a lesson back then and it is equally worthy today. Never be speaking after him, because you will certainly not outdo his capacity to hold an audience and hold people to account. I do not bear any ill will against Sinn Féin for taking an opportunity like this. Maybe we have all done it in opposition.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I grew up on a small farm in the west of Ireland. I know what survival is like. I know what difficulties and issues faced a farming community.
Sentiment score: 0.02
I do not mean this in any kind of an over-the-top way, but I do not need anyone in this House, from this side or the other, to lecture me about the struggles farming is facing.
Sentiment score: -0.50
Also, over that protracted period of time, I have come to see how successive governments have supported the farming sector and how it is a different place now from what it was 40, 45 or 50 years ago. I also know there is a much different approach now to marketing our beef abroad and that the integrated nature of the supply chain and the complexities of it are very different from the kind of abattoirs, the kind of butchering and the kind of processing that existed back then. It is a hell of a lot more complex. Some of the language I heard tonight from the Opposition would seem to me to suggest that it has a way to go, and this is not lecturing, in understanding how complex the supply chain is now-----
Sentiment score: -0.04
-----how the requirements of the customer are very different-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----and the way in which markets are provided for.
Sentiment score: 0.00
That is for another day, however. It is not for us.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I would expect that tomorrow, when he comes before the committee-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----Mr. Murrin will be well able to explain the complexities of the supply chain-----
Sentiment score: 0.27
-----and the complexities of meeting the demands and needs of a changing marketplace. It is not all about carcasses moving to and fro. We have heard about the remarkable growth in the value of agrifood exports over the last decade and more from an export value of €10 billion in 2011 to an estimated €21 billion in 2025. That figure is a truly a record. Our export destinations are well balanced between the EU, the UK and international markets. We all know the importance of market diversification in these volatile geopolitical times. We also know that Bord Bia has played a key role in that success. We have heard about its success in promoting our top-quality food and drink overseas. Like the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, I have witnessed this at first hand on trade missions and at trade fairs. I certainly concur with his view of the excellent teams on the ground. I was recently in the position of political leadership of a mission to China. It was principally about fish but it was also about beef, offal and green offal. I saw the work that had been done under the guidance of the chairman and chief executive to put in place teams on the ground that were speaking in Mandarin, engaging with customers and bringing them to political events. I saw how well regarded Bord Bia was. That does not happen by accident. It is easy to suggest that you can isolate one individual and call for a head and for summary judgment so that you can get it done and move on. If the Government or some other body were to follow through on that approach, it would have implications. It would send the message that there was an issue at the core of the quality of Irish beef. It would bring into question the very standards that put farmers to the pin of their collar.
Sentiment score: 0.32
Farmers talk to me regularly about the exactness and complexity of these standards and the challenges they present. If the people at the top of Bord Bia were to exit, those very standards would be questioned in third countries, markets outside of Ireland.
Sentiment score: 0.09
While we might think we would have a handle on this debate and know what was going on, we do not know how it would be translated-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----by some of our competitors. Can the Deputies imagine how the delivery of a head, as Sinn Féin has been demanding of the Minister, Deputy Heydon, would be presented by those countries that seek to compete with us in international markets? They would say there was a problem with Irish beef and with the standards.
Sentiment score: -0.21
They would say there was a problem with the agency.
Sentiment score: -0.40
They would undermine us. That would open up an entirely new front.
Sentiment score: -0.15
I suspect that, within a number of weeks, we would have another motion from Sinn Féin, this one saying the Minister did wrong and hanged the wrong man and telling him to look at the negative consequences. It is sometimes easy to call for a head and to rush to judgment.
Sentiment score: -0.23
However, when you have the privilege, responsibility and burden of government, you always have to think things through.
Sentiment score: -0.10
You have to make sure the decisions that you take on behalf of the Irish people-----
Sentiment score: 0.32
-----are in the best interests of the people we seek to serve. I cannot accept that Sinn Féin holds dear farmers and those communities any more than I do or the other people on this side of the House do.
Sentiment score: 0.42