Mr. Martin Murray:

The scale is enormous. One must put this kind of joined-up thinking, involving government, business and culture, in context. As the Chairman rightly said, the trade negotiations are set to engage seriously this spring. The Japanese are very keen to have a free trade agreement with Europe. Before the end of Ireland's EU Presidency, the Japanese Prime Minister will attend the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland and it is hoped he will come here also. If the Japanese Prime Minister does come here, the associated media coverage and goodwill is all good for Ireland. The same applied to the Chinese Vice-President, Xi Jinping, who was shown the reality of the green fields of Ireland and the country's beautiful nature. This is an enormously powerful image. All over the world, particularly in Asia, there is a huge, and correct, focus on food safety in which we have enormous expertise.

An Bord Bia is now doing a farm-to-fork traceability scheme in which there is huge potential. Similarly, one can see the work of the Irish Dairy Board with baby powder. The scale of the food sector is enormous. My Indonesian colleagues told me recently that Ireland is the only country at the moment from which Indonesia will accept EU beef. It is only Ireland, so the opportunities are enormous.