Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner. I notice several former colleagues of mine sitting beside him, one of whom I have not seen since 1979. In regard to voluntary regulation pertaining to the various links in the food chain, the unavoidable fact is that the major multiples will continue to run riot leaving a cohort of producers in their wake. They will continue to embark upon various below-cost selling measures and implement a range of loss leaders. Producers will be wiped out as a consequence of those practices. There has been a fair attempt at doing precisely that in this country over the years, as the Commissioner knows. A statutory regulatory framework must be put in place to deal with this issue. I hope the report to which the Commissioner referred will recommend something like that. It is vital that any such scheme such operate at EU level.

In regard to Brexit, the whole situation is gripped by uncertainty. Everybody is pontificating but nobody has a handle on what exactly will happen. It is not possible to have any meaningful discussions in the vacuum that pertains in advance of real negotiations. I am sure Mr. Hogan has had discussions on the issues with his colleagues. It is easy to be patronising and many of the politically-based people in the EU institutions are experts at displaying empathy, but do they really get how important the North-South trade relationship is to us and how a hard Brexit could unfurl damage equivalent to the recession from which we have just emerged? For the agricultural sector specifically, there are issues like biosecurity and veterinary practices to consider, as well as the volatility associated with the currency exchange rate and its impact on our agricultural exports. We have already had casualties in the mushroom industry, as alluded to by Deputy Cahill. A major part of our concern is the fact the sector is so heavily export-orientated, with a particular reliance on the UK market.

Has the Commissioner looked at the impact of Brexit on his renegotiation of the overall Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, budget, which could potentially see a reduction of 37% or so, and on our allocation of €1.2 billion? There are a lot of ingredients in the melting point and when they are all put together we are left with a sobering scenario. I hope the Commissioner is taking all those matters into account.