Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Power and thank him for his presentation. Many of the issues have been dealt with. Produce moving back and forth across the Border is a big issue. I come from a Border area and many dairy products that originate in the North are processed in the South. Likewise, in the case of cattle, many farmers from the North buy their weanlings in the South and move them back to the North. That movement of product back and forth is a serious issue as people are finding it difficult to anticipate what will happen to it. The broader issue is the movement of goods in general. Much of the stuff that leaves Ireland, even if it is not going to Britain, has to go through Britain to get to the Continent. I have spoken to a number of hauliers and they are extremely concerned about what will happen in that regard. The price of getting not only agricultural goods but any goods out of Ireland to other places in the world will increase dramatically because of this. Much of the talk about Brexit in this country has been focused on the agricultural sector, but that sector was the least of the worries during the debate on Brexit in Britain because agriculture represents such a small portion of its overall economy. While there is a notion that perhaps there will be loyalty to the British farmer and so forth, I concur with Mr. Power in doubting that there will be anything of that nature. I believe people will be more inclined to stick to their line of trying to find exports of other goods to other places around the world. There are other major industrial concerns in Britain.

While we are trying to grapple with what Brexit will mean, there is the broader issue of the European project, the problems there and the politics of fear, anger and resentment that we see not just in Europe but also in America and throughout the world. It might bring us to a place where we could be facing perhaps the euro being in a crisis and collapsing. Should we be preparing for that? As regards the EU project in general and where it will go, in ten to 15 years we could be confronted with more countries seeking to leave. How can we prepare or what can we do about that? I am not saying these things will happen, but it is becoming more likely that they will and it is something we must examine.

Mr. Power referred to the drop in the price of food in this country over the past eight years. Cheap food becoming the norm is the high expectation of consumers. That is the biggest problem we have globally. As long as consumers think that food should be cheap there will be a problem for the producers of food and for society, because as food gets cheaper its quality will go down and usually there will be more profiteering in the middle. I realise these issues are slightly removed from Brexit, but I believe we should be examining and trying to deal with them. Clearly, food is vital for life. It should be at a reasonable cost for people in order that they can have good food and a reasonable chance of living a long and healthy life. However, that must be reflected in the payment that the primary producer and the people who work in the industry get for it.