Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I thank my colleague for raising the question. We are very lucky in this party that we have a number of Deputies with significant experience in the agriculture and farming sector. I look forward to working with them and taking their advice because I will need it at times.

Agriculture and the agrifood processing sector is one of Ireland's most important indigenous industries. I would argue that it is this country's most important indigenous industry. It has a key role to play in terms of direct economic activity and is one of the growth sectors designated to advance our national export-led economic recovery. The sector provides a strong base for national economic development. Currently, the overall industry has an annual output of approximately €22 billion and, most importantly, is strongly embedded in the Irish economy. It remains Ireland's most important manufacturing sector, accounting for more than 6% of GDP. A total of more than 139,000 people are employed in the production of agrifood and fisheries products, which is approximately 7.5% of national employment and which is growing week on week. This sector is the primary outlet for the produce and output of the country's 128,000 family farms and includes approximately 600 food and drinks firms. Its wide geographic spread plays a major part in sustaining rural and coastal communities.

A further important facet of the sector is the extent to which it is embedded in the economy and contributes to national prosperity. Due to its low import content and low profit repatriation levels, the net foreign earnings of this sector amount to 32% of the total net foreign earnings from primary and manufacturing industries. That is an extraordinary statistic of which people should take note. In addition, according to Forfás, the food industry spends more than €9.5 billion on Irish goods and services, representing 71% of total expenditure in 2009, far higher than the 44% for all manufacturing industry.

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This industry has a huge export orientation, with exports currently more than €7.8 billion. Over the past decade, the Irish agrifood, forestry and fisheries sectors have competed successfully on the world stage and have demonstrated their capacity to perform as major players in the global food and drink market. Irish food and drink produce is exported to more than 160 countries. This multi-million export industry has also undergone continual development as well as demonstrating considerable flexibility in responding to emerging market opportunities. Over the period it has moved from a largely commodity-based sector, underpinned by market support mechanisms to a far greater reliance on consumer focused, value added product.

The three key attributes of the sector are its embedded contribution to employment and exports, its ability to garner foreign export earnings, and the potential of the sector to generate export-led growth. Together these provide the solid foundation for positioning this progressive indigenous industry as one of the central components of the country's export driven recovery.

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