Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the concerns over having adequate resources to meet the challenge of Brexit and all of the other challenges of being an island that exports 90% of what it produces. It is not true to say it is €1.6 million as Deputy D'Arcy said. After 24 June 2016 we put €1.6 million extra into Bord Bia for the remainder of 2016. On top of that figure we have put an additional €2 million into it for 2017. When the original 2016 figure is compared with the 2017 figure, there is an increase of €3.6 million.

We must also bear in mind that funding available for Bord Bia for 2017 from the European Union will be €1.9 million, which is double what it was in 2016. With that €900,000 there is about €4.5 million extra. I anticipate that includes the additional staff that have been approved. Feet on the street in new markets is the only way that we will meet the challenges we face. In the relatively short period of time that I have been in this role, I have come to recognise that Bord Bia does an exceptional job. I met Bord Bia staff only last week in Germany but previously across north Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia.

We could throw endless resources at this thing. Through the embassy network now having responsibility for trade, the Bord Bia office now often operates out of the same campus where those offices are located, we get a much more significant punch than we would if they were stand-alone. Most recently we have opened offices in Singapore and Warsaw. Bord Bia is putting in considerable effort into its endeavours in the United Kingdom. We are certainly not walking away from that market.

I have made a public commitment that in respect of the roll-out of the challenge and the scale of it, we can revisit this. It will be one of the most important things we will be doing in coming years. When we consider the €1.6 million, €2 million and €900,000 cumulatively, it has significantly increased. We have an open mind about it.