Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the visitors for the discussion of this very important subject. When one engages in general conversation on Brexit, the environment is not the first issue that comes up. This has to be of major concern. We all think of trade, tariffs and borders, and that is where the general dialogue on Brexit takes place, but I am glad the delegates accepted the committee's invitation to attend to outline the many issues which have to be of concern and which will arise on foot of Brexit. Ms Ruddock referred in her introduction to 650 pieces of European Union legislation, and that demonstrates clearly the huge complexity in relation to environmental issues. We have often discussed in committees, in the Dáil and the Seanad the huge disadvantage our agrifood sector will suffer as a result of Brexit. In Northern Ireland, 87% of farm income comes from direct payments from the European Union. A very sizeable proportion of farmers' incomes comes from the same source, namely, direct payments totally funded by the European Exchequer.

We have discussed at length the possible adverse impacts on the agrifood industry, but one of the reasons the State can export food to 161 countries is the quality of our production. Northern Ireland would be very much the same. It is the quality of our farming practices on the land, the processing of the final product and the environment in which our raw material is produced, be it reared cattle or other raw material. We often underestimate the fact that one of the selling points for our food sector is the good environment in which our food industry is based. Anything that damages the provenance of Irish food would be extremely damaging to the sector and the broader economy.

During the previous Dáil, I brought forward legislation as an Opposition Member calling for the establishment of a cross-Border crime agency to deal with issues pertaining to smuggling, general thuggery and criminality associated with a small element along the Border. I was thinking in particular of the washing of diesel and the subsequent dumping of sludge on our farmlands and adjacent to drains and rivers. If that material gets into our grass and water systems, it will do huge damage to the good name of our food industry. Anything that is negative about the environment is negative for the food industry and other sectors also. The Government did not accept my Bill which was voted down, but there was a subsequent agreement to introduce some measures between the Northern Ireland Executive and the Government on cross-Border arrangements to deal with that type of criminality. I thought we had moved on somewhat from a situation where diesel washing was prevalent but I read recently that sludge had been dumped in County Louth, unfortunately.

We must all send the message that any lessening of the attention that has been given on an all-Ireland basis to the protection of the environment will be detrimental. Whatever new arrangements emerge, no funding streams should be lost. Lakes and rivers ignore boundaries. We are all familiar with rivers flowing north or south and lakes that divide parts of Ulster. That is the message the witnesses have sent and the one the committee will impress on the Government with the very important issues that have been raised for our consideration today. One of the many advantages for the economy is the environment. I thank the delegates for the presentations.