Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 9 February 2021

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union

EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: IBEC and Food Drink Ireland

Photo of Niall Ó DonnghaileNiall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Kelly for his very comprehensive presentation. I want to home in on the issue of the all-Ireland market and dynamic. I add a caveat by saying this example is very anecdotal and very modest. However, certainly in my own experience of shopping at home in Belfast, I have noticed a change in some of the produce that is on the shelves. For example, I am seeing a bit more of the guaranteed Irish logo. I wonder about the reorientation of supplies, North and South, and the opportunities that Mr. Kelly would foresee for companies in the South to provide to suppliers and supermarkets in the North that they would not have provided to previously.

I wonder if companies are being made aware of the potential in that reorientation. I understand it is not as large a market as some others. However, with the changing nature of the dynamic as a result of Brexit and, as Mr. Kelly said, with all of the out-workings of the protocol and the withdrawal agreement, it might be something that can be built on in the future. While all of that is modest and anecdotal at this stage, is this something Mr. Kelly's organisation, or those it represents, have noticed? Is it something they would be encouraging producers and suppliers to do?

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