Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner and his team. I thank him for his very detailed and forthright presentation. One of the issues we have been discussing here in previous meetings is how aware the EU needs to be about the complexities, given the recent vote in the UK to leave the EU, particularly regarding exports. Ireland, being such an export-driven country, especially in the food industry, many of our exports go to Europe via the UK, and there are potentially issues for the future, given Britain's decision. This particularly relates to the food industry, which is a massive industry in Ireland, and the revenue that comes in from it.

It is regarded as a high end, value added product. How aware is the EU of the complexities of that and the difficulties it potentially could pose for the future? Obviously, we wish to avoid that because it is such an important factor in the Irish market and economy. With regard to being over-reliant on the UK market, I have stated previously in the Dáil that we must become more focused on getting a market in other EU countries in order to become more vibrant and viable, rather than being so dependent on the UK market. To that end, I have called on the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to consider putting a fund in place so we can promote our products better in Europe and to make ourselves more independent and less reliant on the UK market. Perhaps the Commissioner would give his views on that.