Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for travelling here today and for their presentation. I wish to focus on certain comments that have been made and then ask questions. With regard to agricultural supports, people from Westminster who came before the committee recently made it perfectly clear it was their desire that any outstanding funds due to the EU to 2020 would not be paid and as far as possible it would be a cut and run. If it is a cut and run, the £300 million, I assume, is tied up in the 2020 agreement. Given the size of the agricultural lobby in the UK, if the UK does not live up to its commitment to the EU do the witnesses see the £300 million disappearing well before 2020? This would be detrimental to the farming sector in Northern Ireland.

The figures produced by the witnesses on growth in Northern Irish products are impressive to say the very least. However, I would like to know how much of this the witnesses attribute to the all-Ireland marketing of agrifood products. There is no doubt we are on the premium side of agrifood, and I assume this is as much in Northern Ireland as it is in the Republic. Like Senator Mulherin, I am concerned that in certain parts of England cost would drive the market rather than quality. We can expect that in the south-east high quality will still be in high demand, but in some of the other parts of England cost will probably drive it.

In an ideal world if the witnesses were told tomorrow morning by Theresa May and the European Union they can write their own deal what would they want? How would they see it work? Do they see a benefit in us marketing Ireland the island for agrifood? The Border is a bit of a joke when we speak about agriculture because farmers in Northern Ireland can have their cattle in the North in morning and in the South in the afternoon. The Acting Chairman and I were in Brussels, where we were told to bring a solution and do not mind how ridiculous it might sound because they might just take it. The witnesses have been given a free canvas to write their own solution and I ask them to tell me how they would do it.