Mr. Kevin Sherry:

Senator Craughwell also spoke of artisan producers and the support for those types of companies. One challenge we see in the marketplace at the moment, undoubtedly in the food area, is that companies supplying into the UK multiples are seeing an increased move towards initiatives such as Red Tractor, which is about buying British. We have seen this in the beef sector and in some other areas. Some of the options the companies in the food area must consider - we are in discussion with Bord Bia on this - include the question of whether they can look at other verticals, such as the food service areas, as opposed to the retail side. When one considers the beef area, which is very different from the artisan area, €1 billion of the €7.5 billion sales to the UK is in beef. Were the WTO tariffs to apply to beef, Irish beef producers would face a big challenge. The question of what ultimately emerges in respect of tariffs is a huge factor. We must bear in mind that the UK is a big net importer of food in its requirement and need for food. As Ireland produces enough food to feed a population of around 30 million and is a big net exporter of food, these factors are at play. There is a need to help artisan food producers and those companies that can produce premium products to look at other European markets and to look at channels other than retail.

Senator O'Reilly referred to Taiwan and the opportunities in China and the Asia region. Enterprise Ireland has three offices in China; Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. We currently service the Taiwanese market from our office in Hong Kong. With regard to the scale of the Taiwanese market, we also have a pathfinder. This is a trade consultant who works specifically with us in accessing that market. We cover a number of the smaller markets from those offices. We are very focused on working company by company and sector by sector. We have companies who are exporting into Taiwan and we would see opportunities in that area. It is not yet at a scale that would justify Enterprise Ireland opening a separate office in Taiwan. We keep that situation under constant review but we are driven by matching the opportunity in the market with the capability of our client companies. Where we identify opportunities, we will work with them to go after those opportunities, not just by diversifying out or lessening the dependence on the UK, but also in looking at the opportunities that are there for growth in the long term.

I do not know if this has answered most of the questions but I will ask my colleague, Ms Anne Lanigan, to speak on the work we are doing on some regional initiatives and roadshows that are running now - we had one in Cork yesterday - and what is coming out of those initiatives.