Ms Vikki Brennan:

To address Deputy O'Sullivan's question on the trade balance, my predecessor, Conall O'Caoimh, published a report two years ago when Ireland confirmed two-way trade was on the agenda. The trade balance had been 60:40 in favour of Ireland but at the time of publication it had got worse and was 80:20 in favour of Ireland. I do not have today's statistics, but this is where we are at roughly and it is where it is increasingly likely to go without a change.

Senator Bacik wanted to know about expansion in trade, priority countries and categories in sub-Saharan Africa. My background is the fashion sector. I was brought up through the ranks at Primark and spent a lot of time in London. The priority country for the fashion sector in Europe at large is Ethiopia. At present, I do not believe we have an ambassador sitting there. We were in the embassy in Addis Ababa two weeks ago. To be a linchpin of trade with Ethiopia, because everyone is speaking about it, we need to have strong representation there. The other embassies we visited in east Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa are outstanding.

There is a trade attaché sitting in Kenya in a new role, and that is wonderful. That needs to be supported more. The message needs to travel to those people we have on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa that imports to Ireland are as important as exports from Ireland, because two-way trade makes financial sense. It creates jobs on both sides. It is a no-brainer.

In terms of the categories, garments and leather, with finished products, not rolls of fabric, there is huge investment going on in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia on cut, make and trim, CMT, units. What needs to be supported is the full value chain-up. We do not want any more polyester to be imported from China and Turkey. There are facilities there for it to be done there, therefore the whole industry should be supported. The garment sector is one thing. Africa is quite well known for leather. It comes from a pastoral society, where people are killing their livestock for meat to sustain themselves. They also make an income from selling the hides, so if we could generate a better industry on leather then there is a very good export market there. East Africa is the hub for that.

In terms food there is coffee, tea, dried fruits, snacks and chocolate. Madagascan chocolate is the finest in the world. The key is to stop importing burlap sacks of green coffee and tea leaves. What we want is for those products to be bagged in Africa, because the net effect of that is that the producer can earn seven times the amount by doing that, rather than just exporting the raw leaves or beans. That is the message. The multiplier effect of trading and value addition is obvious and plain to see. With regards the priority countries, the network that has already established and is ready to go is based in East Africa.