Mr. Tom Moran:

I will be brief. The team that is going to China today is still in the air at this stage and probably looking at films if it is lucky. The purpose is to get down to the technical negotiations on standards that would apply to the export of beef. It is a big market for dairy products and baby food and has huge potential. Beef would be another string to our bow. I visited there with the Minister in April of this year and I am confident we can succeed because we have a very good reputation in China for food safety. I might have said this before at the committee, but when we brought President Xi Jinping to a dairy farm in Limerick, I never saw a head of state or government who was so impressed with the specifics of dairy production in Ireland and the control we had over such a large sector. They had an issue with baby food at the time and a subsequent one. Given that we supply about 12% to 15% of the world's baby food, there is a huge market there so I would be confident enough. The only area where I would urge caution in respect of China is the fact that things take a bit longer than one might like. The Minister visited there in April 2012 and the working group is now going out today. It is not for want of trying on our part or that of the Minister, the embassy or Bord Bia.

Believe it or not, the products that would be a possibility for us in respect of India under a free trade agreement would be dairy and whiskey. Whiskey would be a large opportunity for us and is one of the most exciting products that comes within our family basket in terms of the world. The market is growing exponentially and the potential is enormous. It is origin-rooted in Ireland and there are possibilities in respect of that.

Senator O'Keeffe asked about horsemeat, the knock-on effect on food safety and whether this was raised. The answer is "yes". It came at us out of left field at the beginning of our Presidency and we had to take it on board. It was a big issue for us and a big source of concern. The Senator is right. It did become a Europe-wide problem. It was identified here and went on to become a European problem. It highlights the fact that in any food industry and bio sector as big and as export-dependent as ours, the broad spectrum of issues that can arise in respect of food safety can come out of the blue and one must have one's systems, mechanisms and risk assessment and mitigation in place. We would not be the only ones in that regard. Go and ask New Zealand how it feels at the moment about the exposure when it exports the volumes it does. We took that issue extremely seriously. It went on to the European stage. There was a special Council of agricultural Ministers devoted to it, with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the chair. A number of EU decisions were taken in respect of that and I think the members are aware of them because they have been aired again and again in the Dáil. It is an indication of the kind of thing that happens when one is involved in the food or agri sector. It is a bio sector and one never knows what will happen so one maximises controls and trades on one's reputation.

The more we put our heads above the parapet in terms of international trade and the more we rely on the reputation that will sell our product and differentiate it from others, the greater the risk of an issue arising of any type and in any sector. That is why we must rely heavily on controls, inspections and audit throughout all our sectors. I cannot emphasise how important they are in any area.