If the Deputy has evidence of the latter, he should bring it to the appropriate authorities. Evidence from my chief veterinary officer and staff in the Department is that at these individual plants, everything is being done by management, in conjunction with my Department and the HSE, to deal with these issues. On the issue of bringing forward payments, we have had discussions with the Taoiseach on these matters but as they currently stand, EU regulations do not permit the bringing forward of payments earlier than …

The Deputy is calling for an Irish market for Irish beef. I would love for that to be the case while, at the same time, selling our beef everywhere else without any consequences. We need to be the most vigilant about renationalisation because we are very dependent on exports. This issue is not something that I welcome but I am certainly not going to jump on a populist bandwagon because our primary interest is in making sure the European market works for us and we have access to those markets. If there were only an …

As it was not raised in any great detail by other Members, I will reply to the fishing points. I have had a lot of engagement, including as late as yesterday, with representatives of the fishing industry. The Deputy is correct in his analysis that there is a challenge whether one is an inshore or offshore fisherman. We have been granted a freedom to reallocate European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, EMFF, funding. The problem is that there is not a lot of funding under EMFF that is not previously committed. We are lo…

We recognise that we have some room to manoeuvre in terms of EMFF funding that may have been earmarked for expenditure in other areas but due to Covid-19 it will not now be necessary. We are looking at how we might reallocate the funding. There is a view that up to €30 million is available in the context of uncommitted EMFF funding but there is not the smell of that kind of money. We are looking at what resources we might be able to allocate. I accept Deputy Pringle's point about all the sectors, including the insh…

That point is applicable to every sector in the economy. I appreciate that in the context of tonight's debate the issue is what other supports might be available. However, whatever other supports are available, we need to make sure that we get the maximum bang for our buck in terms of how we target the funding. In consideration of that, I am following two direct levels of engagement on these matters with representatives of the fishing industry.

On the latter point, bar one exception where Bord Bia acknowledged there was a difficulty, if one sees a Bord Bia quality assurance stamp on it, it is an Irish product and there should be no mystery about that. In terms of the issue of imports to which Deputy McNamara alluded, does it not send a shiver down his spine when he sees the National Farmers Union in the United Kingdom giving out to our retail partners in the UK about stocking Irish beef? That is the flip side of the coin.

On the beef market task force, I am amused at Deputy McNamara's inference that this was a vehicle - if that was the Deputy's view, it certainly did not work - to secure Fine Gael through the election. Far from it, the task force is a serious piece of work. It is in the difficulty that all of us are in in terms of meetings but there is ongoing engagement with all of the constituent members. The job that was identified for it continues in terms of reports that have been commissioned by independent bodies, etc. The wo…

Perhaps I might make a final point on the areas of natural constraint, ANC, issue. As I alluded to earlier, I am not really in favour of flexibility on the ANC stocking rate. The Deputy alluded to the price of cattle. Removing the obligation on buyers of cattle to meet that stocking density requirement will completely remove the floor from the price of cattle. What looks like a good idea on a superficial level would have an adverse impact on the price of store cattle and weanlings.