Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the Northern Irish ports, this is an emerging situation. As I said, the first priority here is the safety of staff. The type of threats we have seen are to be condemned by all. There are still full documentary checks in place and we will work very closely with our Northern Irish and EU counterparts in the time ahead. It is important that we all work together to calm the situation and recognise that the objective of the North-South protocol is to ensure access for Northern Ireland to the EU Single Market and the UK market and that it remains part of the customs union.

On direct aid for farmers, as I said, in the most recent budget I delivered an increase of €179 million in direct support to farmers and in fresh funding for farm schemes. My number one objective is farm incomes.

Deputy Carthy pointed out the investment in the processing sector in the time ahead, which will amount to €100 million over the next five years or €20 million per annum until 2025. That will be about ensuring value is added to product and encouraging private investment in the processing sector.

The most crucial issue at all times, from my point of view, is supporting and investing in farm incomes. That is why I achieved an increase of €179 million or 11% in the budget. If people express concerns to the Deputy, he should remind them of that important support provided in the recent budget and of its importance to farm incomes.

The €1 billion provided under the Brexit adjustment reserve will be important in supporting the overall economy, particularly the agrifood sector, in adjusting to Brexit and its impact. I am monitoring that very closely and I stand ready to support the agrifood sector from the reserve as the situation evolves.

Well over half of farmers are on course to meet the current reference year with regard to the BEAM scheme. However, we are now more than halfway through the reference year and it is clear that many farmers are not in a position to meet it. I am hopeful that the new reference year will be approved at European level. This will make the 12 months of 2021 a reference year and give farmers an opportunity to adjust to meet the 5% threshold. The terms and conditions are the same now as they were when everybody signed up to the scheme. While the terms and conditions have not changed, I hope that, with the approval of the European Commission, the reference year will change. This will give farmers who are having difficulty meeting the threshold a second chance to do so in 2021.

We will do all we can in the time ahead in regard to mixed milk and the trade deal. We will work with the European Union to have third country trade deals readjusted to make best use of the opportunities available. We would like to address that issue to ensure this works and does not become an issue or is removed as an issue over time.

The benchmark taken for throughput at our ports was 2019. Significant resources have been provided to meet the increased administration required with regard to importing and exporting. This will depend on how volumes evolve. In many cases, they are less than half of what they were previously.

There is no doubt they will increase again and if additional resources are required, they will be put in place to adjust to that.

Regarding export insurance, there has been engagement over the past year between the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Deputy is right. It is an area where there is currently no system in place but we continue to assess it in terms of what the opportunities and potential would be for such a scheme.